Guardian of Magic
by wolfsrainrules
Summary: Winter needed a Guardian. Jack needed Hope. MiM is making plans and sends Jack to Winter hoping to make the future Guardian Happy. He set something in motion not even He had expected. (FEM!Harry(Winter) Pairing:Fem!Harry/Jack)
1. Chapter 1

…**..GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHH OMG MUSE! WHY?! WHHHYYYYY!?**

**I recently saw a movie I fell in love with in a way I haven't in a very long time. **

**Rise of the Guardians. I am in love with it.**

**Well….My Muse was like **_**"OMG HP/RotG CROSSOVER. WE ARE DOING ONE RIGHT NOW. GO. OPEN MICROSOFT. LET'S DO THIS"**_** and I was like **"But I have all these other chapters to do and you-"_** "RIGHT. NOW. PUP. This is what we're doing and you don't get to pick stories **_**I do**_**. So open up Microsoft."**_** And I'm like **"But I just- I was- you can't!"_** "I'm not helping with anything until you go write this."**_ "Well…Damn. *opens Microsoft*"** and here I am. Muse is very smug.**

**I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Harry Potter. This applies throughout. **

**WARNINGS: AU! OOC! FEM!HARRY Possible Jack X Fem!Harry (Who I have named Winter) and SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE DESPITE BEING AU**

**Oh! MiM is Man in the Moon for those who are unaware. **

**ALSO: I AM MESSING WITH WEATHER**

**WE ARE GOING TO PRETEND ENGLAND GETS AWESOME AMOUNTS OF SNOW SO I CAN DRAG JACK INTO LITTLE WHINGING**

**Yeah.**

**It's AU Fan Fiction I can do that XD**

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MiM had chosen each of his Guardians for a reason. It may not always be clear to anyone other than MiM himself, but he always had a reason.

He also wanted them to be Happy.

He wanted his Guardians to be happy with their job and all it entailed so that they always associated their jobs with Happiness, Light, Hope, Wonder, and Joy. So they never associated being a Guardian as something Bad or Unwanted.

MiM hadn't taken into account the long 300 years Jack would wonder the world unseen, unheard, and not believed in. He hadn't thought the other Guardians would ignore Jack. MiM had believed that in 300 years Jack would find _someone_ that believed in him, someone that could see and hear and touch him. When 297 years had passed without Jack finding someone, with Jack asking MiM "Why do the people around me walk through my body? Why can't they see or hear me? Why am I here? Why are you doing this to me? Why am I _invisible_ to them?" MiM decided to take matters into his own hands.

He started searching the Globe for someone that Believed in Jack Frost…someone that would be able to interact with Jack and make him Happy.

He found her. She was a child that needed a Guardian. A child that needed Jack, and believed he existed.

The child's name was Winter Abigail Potter. She was a 10 year old child that was abused and neglected. She was a child who, despite all of that, _believed_ in magic, and Jack. Believed in Santa and the Easter Bunny. In the Sandman and the Tooth Fairy. She found Magic and Joy in the smallest of things. She was not a selfish child.

She was also a witch. Something that Winter had known and loved about herself ever since she was seven years old, and something that had cemented her Belief in All Things Magical forever.

She spent time in the Library to read up on all the Magical Myths once she realized what she was. She read book after book after book, devouring the knowledge and storing it in her mind. Her inner Magic told her which of the Myths were true fiction and which were Truth hidden in Legend, and in this way she discovered the Truth in the Easter Bunny, Sandman, Santa, Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost. She even discovered Pitch and MiM himself in this same manner.

Once she knew she they existed she started speaking to them. Her relatives never let her write Santa, Hunt Easter Eggs, or have money for her teeth, but she _was_ let out when there was snow out in the town of Little Whinging and she was allowed out when the moon was high, since the Dursley Family didn't care what happened to the child anyway. When the moon was full, Winter would talk to MiM, about anything from how her day went to what she had happened to her at the hands of her 'Family' that day. When the snow came during winter, Winter would use her magic to stay warm since the clothes she had from Dudley never fit much less kept her warm. Then she would head out for the lake closest to #4 and she would skate barefooted across the ice, using her magic to keep away the cold. She would laugh and dance out on the ice, and when she could no longer skate she was so tired she would pull herself up and stumble for #4 whispering "Thank you Jack for the wonderful winter."

Jack never knew about her, but that was about to change. MiM would make sure of it. He wanted his Guardians happy, and Jack would become a Guardian, even if no one but MiM knew that yet.

So MiM reached for Jack's mind and he spoke **"Jack Frost."**

Jack jumped and whirled around to face the large full moon "…You're talking to me now?"

MiM sighed lightly **"Go to England to the town of Little Whinging. There is something there you need to see."**

Jack didn't understand why he was being sent there, or why MiM was suddenly taking an interest, but despite everything MiM was the one to give him a name, and he was always watching over him, so Jack nodded and called out to the wind. He'd be arriving a little early, but Little Whinging, England would be getting snow.

MiM watched over him as Jack made his journey and smiled to himself. Even if Jack didn't know it yet, he was going to be happy soon. Truly Happy.

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Jack arrived in Little Whinging late in the night without any trouble and with him came the early snow. Some of the adults that were out grumbled about it, and Jack may have sent some colder than normal wind their way, but the children were happy to see snow as they went to their beds, looking forward to playing in the morning.

Jack had his fun freezing everything in the town before settling on a lake about the size of the one he had woken up on close to 300 years ago. He sprawled out in the middle of the lake and stared up at the sky watching the moon. He didn't expect anyone to come out onto the lake, so he was surprised to hear the trees near the left side of the lake rustle. He grabbed his staff and jumped into the air to watch whoever was heading for the lake.

He was surprised to see a ten year old girl with long black hair that had a windswept look much like his own, pale white skin, clothes that looked much too big to be hers, no shoes and bright emerald eyes that scanned the area a few times before stepping close to the lake. She scanned the lake and smiled whispering "He's Early."

Jack was surprised to watch the girl step out onto the ice without appearing to check it for thickness with nothing on her feet. He wanted to tell her that was a bad idea, but after 297 years of no one seeing or hearing him Jack didn't say a word. He was confused about whom she was referring too with her earlier statement of 'He's Early' but he didn't ask and just watched her.

For a few hours the girl danced on the ice with no shoes and no warm clothes on, looking like nothing about the cold affected her. And Jack grew interested in her. In all his years on the Earth, Jack had never seen a person who could walk around in almost nothing with no shoes in winter and look like it was natural, especially so close to him, where it was always colder in the winter months.

There was no music or noise other than the wind, and yet the girl moved as if she could hear something Jack couldn't, see something Jack missed. She moved like there was something in the air, almost as if some invisible partner was moving with her, and it was something magical and amazing to watch.

After a few hours of watching her, the girl finally slowed and looked towards the sky, right at Jack. She smiled widely and brightly bowing her head slightly while maintaining eye contact with Jack the entire time and then she spoke in a soft but magical voice "Thank you for the early winter Jack."

Jack felt his insides freeze. He had been feeling a little uneasy that she was staring _right at him_ but to hear her _thank_ him for an early winter and say his name? That meant she could _**see him**_, and after not being seen for 297 long years, the idea of _being seen_ and _thanked_ was not something Jack had expected, so he froze in the air and stared at her with wide eyes.

While Jack was having an emotionally upheaving moment, Winter was unaware she had said anything significant, and she walked away headed for the house she resided in. She slipped inside the door of #4 and tried to be as quiet as possible as she headed for her Cupboard. She slipped inside and curled up on the cot that was her bed. She smiled. _"Today, winter came early, I saw Jack Frost, and got to thank him in person. I got to dance with his magic. Not even my relatives could ruin today for me."_

Jack had thought Winter looked like she was dancing with something unseen, with unheard music or a partner. He had been right on all accounts.

Winter had always been able to _see_ and _hear_ the very magic of the Earth. Magic was a living thing. It was something with feelings, something that could 'speak' something that changed and loved and hated. It was something that Winter had always sensed and known in the very reaches of her soul.

Winter had sensed Jack's Magic. It had whispered to her in clear crisp loving tones, knowing she was one of the few who could see and hear it as well as the only person who believed in its wielder. It had always heard her thanks, even if its wielder couldn't and now that it was so close it could reach for her it would. It reached out and whispered _**"Young One. We are here. Come dance with me."**_

Winter had heard it and headed for the lake, knowing that the Magic would guide Jack there since it wanted her to dance with it. When she had arrived at the lake she had paused and scanned the area for Jack. She hadn't seen him, but she could see his Magic waiting at the center of the lake. She smiled at what she knew was a copy of Jack's form except it was glowing a mix of blues and whites and silvers and looked more like a silhouette than a person. She smiled at the Magic. "He's Early"

"_**We are early. MiM sent us. Come and dance with me. The ice is safe. I will not let you fall through"**_

Winter made a note to thank MiM later, and she stepped out onto the ice without a thought.

The moment she had stepped onto the frozen lake, which was full of Jack's Magic, she could feel the Magic's joy and anticipation, and she could hear the very essence of winter in the form of a song with no words. She smiled widely and let the Magic envelope her as she danced with Jack's Magic as if it was her partner in a routine on the ice with no lifts. She twirled and jumped and just danced with it, and she was thrilled that for the first time she could dance with Jack's Magic Source rather than dancing with the Magic left behind after Jack had already been through the town.

Soon though she tired and she looked towards the sky as she always did when she thanked Jack for winter. What she hadn't expected was to see Jack crouching on top of a Shepherd's Staff and watching her in the air, but since he was there, Winter smiled at him and bowed her head a little as she thanked him for the early winter.

That led her up to this very moment inside the cupboard. She hoped Jack was still there in the morning. She wouldn't mind talking to him in person. She knew he was a good person, she could feel it in his Magic. She could feel that his magic was playful, caring, and loving, she could also feel that it was capable of cold fury and death, but most of all she could feel the urge to bring fun and joy to people and the very strong urge to protect people it considered precious to its wielder.

Something Winter had learned about Magic was that it was born with its wielder, even if its wielder had no potential to use it consciously, and in this way the Magic took the form of its wielder's silhouette and then it became the colors that represented its wielder most. Magic would also broadcast 'feelings' out into the world that would tell people who could sense it some of its wielder's core personality traits.

Something else that Winter had noticed was _everyone_ had Magic. Most people couldn't consciously use it like a Witch or Wizard, or the Immortal Figures, but they could channel their magic into things like Books, Music, Movies and Ideas.

Winter wondered what her Magic said about her since the only Magic she hadn't ever been able to see was her own though she knew it was there.

As Winter thought of all these things she stared at her ceiling and smiled whispering "Thanks MiM."

As she slipped into sleep she could feel MiM's Magic reach out and brush against her mind telling her without words 'You're Welcome.'


	2. Chapter 2

**I'll say it again: This is an AU Fem!Harry story with a Jack/FemHarry pairing. Expect OOC.**

**Love you guys! Enjoy!~ Also: My guest reviewers? Thank you so much! TTwTT**

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Winter woke the next morning to her Aunt banging on her cupboard door yelling at her to "Hurry Up and Start Breakfast Girl!"

She scrambled to get up and obey the command. She really didn't want to deal with her Uncle and Cousin being denied Breakfast for any amount of time, because the wait would result in a smack and the day being spent in the Cupboard. Winter really wanted to go out in the thick snow she could see outside so she could skate and play and possibly find Jack, so messing up Breakfast was not an option.

She only delayed long enough to use the loo and wash her hands before rushing into the kitchen. She prepared the food with an expert's touch and a quick hand. She had been making the food in the house ever since she was old enough to understand the instructions her Aunt would give her and not hurt herself, because Petunia and Vernon really didn't want to explain where Winter would have gotten the injuries.

She placed all the food out on the table and turned to her Aunt. Winter said nothing and only watched her. Petunia looked over all the food carefully and when she found nothing wrong with the food she nodded once at Winter.

Winter quickly scrambled to make herself two pieces of toast and a glass of water before her Aunt changed her mind, or her Uncle decided she wouldn't get to eat for some imagined offense. She was quick to polish off the toast, and turned to her Aunt asking quietly "May I go outside Aunt Petunia?"

Petunia stared at her for a moment before nodding once. "Put on long pants and a long sleeved shirt so the neighbors don't talk." Petunia wouldn't turn down a chance to send the girl out of the house all day. That meant no…freakishness…in the house and Petunia was okay with that.

Winter nodded and ran towards her cupboard where she slipped on some of Dudley's old clothes on and she threw a threadbare jacket over that despite knowing she wouldn't need it since her magic kept her warm. As soon as she was presentable Winter rushed out into the snow with no shoes on. She was much more comfortable with no shoes since she could feel the Magic in the Earth much easier that way.

Winter headed for 'her' lake without delay. She hoped Jack would be there. She could feel his Magic very strongly in the snow around her so Winter knew he was still in the area or his Magic would have faded to a small amount that centered on the lake she frequented.

What Winter didn't know was Jack's Magic was attracted to her since she was someone the Magic knew believed in his wielder and could see and feel it. That was the reason Winter's Lake stayed frozen solid so long. Jack's Magic gathered there for her and kept the Lake frozen as long as it could until the Magic had to fade away to untraceable levels and Winter would wait until next winter to skate again.

Jack was still struggling to except that someone could see him.

By the time he had snapped out of his daze of surprise the girl had already left and Jack didn't know where she went.

He didn't even know her name.

Jack was planning to fix that immediately, so he made it snow enough to cause a Snow Day so the girl wouldn't have to go to school that morning, which was a Friday, leaving Jack with the Friday and the Weekend to find the girl. If Jack had been paying attention he would have noticed that his Magic was much easier to use than normal almost like it was jumping at the chance to help him meet the girl, but he wasn't so he didn't see it.

He had spent the previous night running her words and actions through his head in between making it snow harder. He spent the night switching emotions from painful, painful hope and disbelief. After all he had spent 297 years in isolation and to finally, after so many years, find someone that could see him? It was almost too good to be true.

Jack had almost convinced himself that it was all a dream a few times, but then he would remember her amazing dancing on the lake and he knew it couldn't have been a dream, because Jack would never have been able to come up with that, and he would go back to painful hope as he sat in the center of that lake and stared at the trees the girl had entered from last time.

His patience and hope were rewarded when the trees rustled and the girl stepped out into the open. She still had the windswept black shoulder length hair she still had those same bright emerald eyes, and was still barefoot despite the snow that reached her knees. The only change was her clothes which Jack noted were still too big for her and not really any help to her in this amount of snow.

He stood and stared at the girl leaning on his staff.

She stood at the edge of the lake staring at him with a large smile on her face.

Neither one of them moved for a moment as they took in each other's appearances.

Then Jack took a hesitant step forward which seemed to be the cue for the girl since she stepped out onto the ice and met Jack halfway. "C-can you see me?" he whispered the question like he was afraid of the answer and the painful hope in his chest dropped to his stomach where it tied itself into knots as he waited for the response.

Winter for her part was absolutely thrilled to see Jack sitting on her lake, and walked over to meet him. She was confused by his question though. "Well of course I can see you. Why wouldn't I be able to?"

Jack couldn't believe it, and his legs just sort of…folded underneath him. He fell back into a sitting position and he stared at the girl in front of him. The snow falling around them reacted to its master's emotions and swirled around in a mix of joy-shock-hope-happiness-joy-awe-shock.

Winter gasped as she felt his Magic respond to Jack's emotions and let her feel them to a lesser extent. Winter stared at him for a moment, before settling herself into a sitting position in front of Jack and waiting.

She watched Jack's emotions finally settle on Joy and Awe rather than jumping all over the place before he asked in an excited voice "What's your name?"

She smiled at him and answered "Winter Potter."

She watched a sliver of amusement work its way into his eyes and emotions "Winter? That's pretty."

She grinned "Thanks."

Jack stared at her another moment "You really _**can**_ see me. You can see and hear me." He was still floored by the idea.

"Why…why is that surprising?" Winter watched as the joy, the awe, and the amusement drained out of Jack's eyes only to be replaced by an ancient grief.

"You're the first person I've met that can see or hear me in almost 300 years."

Winter was horrified at his answer. She couldn't imagine living 300 years without being seen or heard or acknowledged. She wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she reacted the way she had seen her Aunt and Uncle react to Dudley's sadness. She leaned in over the distance between Jack and her and gave him a long and hard hug.

Jack froze at the contact, and in response to his surprise the snow falling around them seemed to stop in midair for a moment before falling again. Winter didn't move away from the hug when Jack froze, sensing he needed it.

Winter could feel Jack tremble in her arms for a moment before her hug was returned with the same amount of strength. This was not only Jack's first hug, but Winter's as well. The Dursleys had never given her a positive form of touch before and Winter trembled in Jack's hold as she realized what she had missed out on for the past ten years; what Jack had missed out on for the past 300.

After a few minutes Jack and Winter pulled away from their hug and stared at each other. "So…you can see me…I wonder why that is?" Jack wondered what made Winter different than the other people he had seen in his travels.

Winter had a theory about that so she answered him. "Well…I've always Believed in you, ever since I discovered you existed. I think that I can see you because I Believe in you. I think that people stop seeing when they stop Believing."

Jack stared at her "You…Believed in me?" It had always been 'Santa,' Easter Bunny,' 'Tooth Fairy,' 'The Sandman' or even 'The Man in the Moon,' but it was never 'Jack Frost.' Jack was nothing but a myth to most people mentioned in a song verse or a movie, but never Believed in. Not with all the others there to be Believed in.

To lean that somewhere, someone in the world had Believed….Well it gave Jack _**Hope**_, something Jack hadn't had for almost Three Centuries.

Winter smiled "Yeah. I _knew_ you were real when I was seven. I had believed before then, but at seven I knew for sure." She watched the snow around her respond to Jack's emotions as it danced happily around her reflecting Jack's Wonder, Joy, Hope and Awe. It was beautiful to watch and Winter couldn't sit still anymore. She jumped to her feet and turned to look at Jack smiling as she told him "Dance with Me!"

Jack's eyes widened. He remembered how Winter had danced the day before and he waved his hands sharply "B-but I can't dance! I've never danced in my life."

Winter smiled and confused him with her next statement. "But your Magic can dance."

"What?"

"You make the snow dance every year. You fly with the Wind at your back. Your Magic is alive and it can dance. So…so can you!"

"B-but…" she just confused him more than before.

She held out her hand for Jack to take telling him "Trust Me."

Jack stared at her for a minute before taking her hand finding that he could and would trust her. It was the beginning of a Bond that would grow stronger with time.

Winter smiled when Jack took her hand. "Now…." Winter summoned her Magic and her hair blew around her face as she smiled "Let me guide you." She reached forward and enveloped Jack with her magic. She could see his Magic reach for her own and connect with her own filling both of them with feelings reflecting each other's Joy, Hope, Excitement, Wonder and Awe. Jack couldn't see her Magic, but he could sense the change in the air as her Magic enveloped him and he smiled feeling excited for what was coming.

Winter gripped Jack's wrist and pulled him after her where they started dancing, following the same steps Winter had danced with Jack's Magic the night before. Jack found the steps coming naturally to his mind and laughed happily, the snow following both of them, dancing with its Master and his Believer.

If anyone were to look onto the lake at the time they would have seen Winter skating barefoot over the ice, laughing, her face lit up with joy and excitement looking for all the world like the very snow falling from the air was dancing with her like it was a living thing, Swirling around with her spins, blowing forward with her and sending her to faster speeds and in the one instance when Winter tripped over Jack's feet the wind appeared to save her from falling.

This first meeting, this first instance of Winter extending a hand to Jack and asking-demanding that he dance with her, was the beginning of a Friendship that would last for an Eternity.

It was the beginning to something not even MiM himself expected.

It was the start of an annual tradition.

It was a new Beginning to Everything.


	3. Chapter 3

…**Something I implied but didn't state is Winter doesn't have Glasses. This is confirming it: Winter DOES NOT HAVE glasses. She has more of her mother in her then her dad. She looks like her structure wise and her hair only looks Windblown all the time rather than the "Bird's Nest" James' hair was. ^_^**

**Also: Anonymous Reviewer who signed "A Fan" TTwTT Thank you so much for the long review! I felt like crying happy little tears! TTwTT **

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Winter had always enjoyed and loved winter because it was the only time the Dursleys let her run free through the neighborhood since they hoped she would freeze. Winter knew that they hoped that, but she had never cared, because winter was a Magical time where the Magic in the air effected the people around her.

It was a time where Hope, Wonder, Joy, and Fun filled the air. It was a time where people became generous and kinder. Winter loved the season she was named after, because this season seemed to bring out the best in everyone except her Aunt and Uncle. Ever her cousin was kinder to her. Dudley left her alone during the winter season, even stopping his friends from messing with her, and she was free to do as she wished most of the time.

Winter remembered a kind woman who no longer lived in her neighborhood that had given Winter a nice warm jacket that she had long outgrown. Winter still had the jacket in her Cupboard as a memento of the woman and her kindness.

Winter found that with Jack there she loved the season that much more.

She hadn't thought it was possible to love winter more than she did, but she was being proved wrong with each passing day that she spent with Jack. Winter wasn't sure what she was going to do when winter was over and Jack has to move on to other places.

For his part Jack was enjoying himself more than he ever remembered. Spending time with Winter playing, dancing, or even sitting and talking on the lake were some of the best times Jack could remember having in all his 297 years on Earth. These times were better than any Snow Day Jack could remember causing, better than any Prank Jack could remember playing. They were even better than the time Jack had almost succeeded in getting into North's Workshop before being caught by Phil.

The only thing that worried Jack was the more he learned more about Winter the more he realized something was wrong with her home life. He wasn't sure _what_ it was, but he knew something was off. There were a few times where Jack had arrived after Winter and touched her shoulder or arm without Winter knowing he was there, and Winter had jerked away from him like he had burned her before apologizing and saying he had startled her. Jack hadn't pried, but he knew then something was off. Another thing Jack had noticed was how _small_ Winter was compared to other people her age. She was a few inches shorter than most ten year olds and she was skinny. Skinny enough for Jack to see bones. He had started taking her food he managed to get from places around the town. He didn't really like stealing things from other people, but Winter was important to him. Winter was the first person to Believe in him. Winter was the first person to talk to him. The first person to teach him to dance. The first person to interact with him on any level, and Jack knew she would die if she wasn't fed enough. He remembered seeing people who starved way back near the beginning of his life when there were no skyscrapers or stores, back when people had to hunt for their food or die.

Jack would _not_ let that fate fall to Winter.

Not ever.

Not even if he had to use the wind to take things right from people's grocery bags.

As Christmas approached, Jack expected Winter to stop showing up at what had become their lake, or if she did show up, Jack expected her to talk about North or what her relatives would get her, or even what she _wanted_ to get for Christmas.

Winter never did.

She showed up every day at their lake, and when Jack joined her she talked to him about anything, but she never brought up North, or what she thought she might get for Christmas. She never mentioned what she wanted either. She even showed up on Christmas Eve, and this was when Jack realized something had to be very wrong at Winter's home, because every other ten year old Jack remembered seeing talked about what they were getting, or what they hoped they were getting for Christmas, and they defiantly didn't go places on Christmas Eve.

"Winter?"

"Yeah Jack?" Winter turned to face him from her spot on their lake.

"What are you getting for Christmas tomorrow?"

Winter stilled completely and stared at Jack with wide eyes as if she couldn't believe what he had asked, which was true. Her relatives _never_ got her anything, and usually locked her into the Cupboard on Christmas so she couldn't 'intrude on _normal_ people's Christmas, and ruin it with her freakishness.' No one had ever asked her what she was getting before.

"Winter?" Jack stared at her with worried eyes when she didn't answer.

"Sorry. I just didn't expect that." Winter fought with herself. On one hand…this was Jack who had quickly claimed his place as her Best Friend, and she knew she could tell him everything. On the other hand…this was _Jack_ her _Best Friend_ and did she _really_ want to tell him the truth?

"Oh. Well…what do you think you're going to get?"

Winter took a deep breath. This was Jack. She could tell him the truth. He'd probably figure it out when she came to him on Christmas day anyway. "N-nothing Jack."

Jack blinked confused. "…Nothing? How can you get nothing? You believe in North, so he'd bring you something at the very least."

Winter turned to stare at the lake instead of Jack. "…I know he brings me things. My…The Dursleys either throw it out or give it to my cousin."

Jack went completely still.

Winter knew that was bad. Jack was never still, even if he was just wiggling a foot or tapping his staff. "…Jack?"

"…They…don't give you North's presents?" his voice was carefully even, but the snow and his Magic gave away the fact he was angry as both swirled dangerously around their lake, the beginnings of a snowstorm forming. "Do they get you anything?"

"…No. They've never gotten me anything."

Jack expected her answer, but when she gave it to him his Magic basically exploded causing a Blizzard to envelop the entire town, only the Lake where Winter and he stood was spared the result of Jack's anger.

Winter watched his reaction with wide eyes, staggering slightly as Jack's Magic blasted through her to cause the Blizzard before it circled back to envelop her almost as if it could make everything better. She hadn't expected his reaction to something that Winter had excepted as normal since it had been happening every Christmas since she had been placed with the Dursleys.

"…Jack?" she fought the urge to back away from him and his anger. She knew he wasn't angry with her at all, and she knew he would never hurt her on purpose, but her experience with angry people, especially males, usually ended with lots of pain and bruises or sometimes bleeding wounds, and her instincts were screaming at her to _'Run, run away, run into the Blizzard and hide away from him or her hurt you like_ they_ do! Run!'_ The only thing keeping her still was the extreme level of protectiveness his Magic was directing at her, the proof he wouldn't hurt her since even in his rage the Blizzard didn't touch the area she was in, and her trust in Jack, trust her Instincts and Heart approved of. She managed to keep herself sitting next to Jack for these reasons alone as she watched the storm rage around their lake.

Jack couldn't understand how someone could deny anyone, especially Winter, Christmas and the Wonder and Joy it brought to people. The idea that she had never experienced that Joy…it made Jack very, very angry with these Dursleys. It made him want to freeze them. It made him want to take away their joy, because why should _they_ experience joy and wonder while they took it from Winter? The only thing that prevented Jack from doing that was Winter herself. If he got rid of these people, Winter wouldn't have anywhere to go. But still…His eyes narrowed and the Blizzard he formed became a little stronger. Then suddenly, like the waves breaking on the rocks of a shore he heard her voice pierce his rage "…Jack?"

Winter watched as Jack's eyes which had been glowing a Silver-Blue color went back to the Icy Blue she had become used to.

Jack turned to face Winter again and calmed slightly at the sight of her tensed on the ice, but still sitting next to him and staring at his face. "…Sorry." He took a deep breath and Winter watched the Blizzard slowly fade into a heavy snowstorm, and she relaxed.

"It…it's okay. I just…I didn't expect that reaction."

Jack nodded "Sorry. So…what do you _want_ for Christmas than?"

Winter paused at the shift back to their conversation. "Um…I don't know. I've never thought about it before."

Jack paused. _"I'll have to think of something myself than. She'll never wake up to nothing on Christmas again. Not as long as I'm here."_ He stared at her for a minute. "Hmm…"

Jack didn't like the awkward silence that settled between them after that and decided he was going to fix it. He knew just how to do it too. He had seen her watch him soar through the air with longing in her eyes. This could even be considered an early Christmas Gift. "Winter." He stood from his sitting position and looked down on the girl who had quickly worked her way through Jack's walls and became important to him.

"Yeah, Jack?"

"Do you Trust Me?"

"Always Jack."

Jack smiled and offered her a hand, much like she had when she taught him her dance.

Winter looked at him a moment before reaching up and grabbing his hand, letting him pull her up to her feet. He wrapped a hand around her waist, the other gripping his staff tightly.

"Jack?" Winter was confused at his actions.

He turned to pin her with his eyes. "Trust Me."

Much as Jack had the night he had danced with her, Winter felt herself smile and nod, trusting him "Okay."

Jack grinned "Hold on then."

Winter felt his arm tighten around her waist and she responded by wrapping an arm around Jack's shoulders. Her only warning to what was coming was the swell of Magic that originated from Jack, and then she wasn't touching the ice of the lake anymore. She gasped and tightened her hold in Jack, watching the ground get further and further from her feet.

Jack laughed and the last of the snowstorm faded as amusement and joy replaced his earlier anger, a light dancing snowfall taking its place. He watched as Winter's face lit up and she started to giggle. "Jack!"

Jack laughed again, knowing what she wanted. "Alright, but hold on!"

He felt her arm tighten more and he grinned widely calling out "Come on Wind! Let's give her A Ride to Remember!"

Winter felt the Magic of the Wind swell and almost laugh as it responded to Jack, and suddenly they were well and truly flying through the air so fast that Winter's hair came clear off her back and became almost flat against her head. Jack grinned as he heard the excited whoop leave his friend's lips.

He decided to entertain her even more, tightening his hold on her waist and only warning her "Here we go!" before dropping into a steep dive that changed to a loop-de-loop then to a backwards drop that went into a corkscrew. Jack pulled all his stops, pulling every trick he had learned in the air, his smiling getting bigger with every whoop, every laugh, every squeal of joy that left Winter's lips.

Eventually though Jack came to a slow stop on their lake and released Winter, who continued to giggle with leftover adrenaline. She turned to pin Jack with bright excited joyous eyes the seemed to glitter with her own Magic exclaiming "Let's do that again!"

Jack laughed "Alright. Tomorrow I promise."

Winter nodded "I'll hold you to it Jack!"

He smirked "I'll always keep my promises to you."

Winter's eyes softened "I trust you."

Jack's eyes softened. "Go on then, I'll see you tomorrow."

Winter smiled at the idea of spending Christmas with Jack. "Ok. I'll be here." She turned and ran for #4.

She didn't see Jack's eyes harden with determination. _"I've got some planning to do…Now what to get her for Christmas?"_


	4. Chapter 4

…**.You guys….!**

**You're all going to make me cry! And "A Fan"…..YOUR REVIEWS ARE LONG AND BEAUTIFUL AND THOUGHTFUL AND MAKE ME HAPPY THANK YOU.**

**Thank you so much all of you! TTwTT**

**A lot of people said something about a Crystal Snowflake Necklace.  
I'll be honest: Originally that was the plan, but as more people guessed it, I decided it was too obvious and changed her gift around into something I think is neat so neh! XP**

**I was asked about timeframes: So this will stretch through HP years (AU years, but it'll stretch though all of them) and the ROTG Movie. As for Jack's and Winter's roles in either place…That would be telling :P **

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Jack spent much of the following night planning.

He wasn't sure what to do for someone who had never experienced Christmas before, so he decided to pull all stops and go all out for Winter's First Christmas.

Despite all the planning the most difficult thing Jack had to do was decide on her gift.

It would be her first gift, the first gift he had ever given someone personally, and that made it a special gift, but Jack thought he had managed to pick something really nice for her.

Still, he was nervous.

The very first thing Jack did was make it a White Christmas. The snow was nice and thick, and it covered everything the way it did in all those postcards he had seen in his travels. Then he searched for different locations he was going to take Winter. Eventually he had everything he could think of set up. Jack had never celebrated Christmas before, so he thought he was doing pretty good for someone who was only going off what he saw everyone else do. He was ready by midnight and settled in a tree by the lake to catch a few hours of sleep before Winter got there.

Winter woke up on Christmas morning excited in a way she had never been before.

For the very first time she could remember, someone wanted to spend Christmas with her, for the first time she could remember someone was _waiting_ to spend Christmas with her. Someone was looking forward to spending Christmas with her.

Winter couldn't remember being so happy in her life.

She was up and ready to leave shortly after waking, but she had to wait for her Aunt to unlock the cupboard and let her out. Around 7:30am her Aunt opened the cupboard door and commanded her "Use the loo and get back in. I'll be making breakfast today, I'll not have you touching my family's Christmas breakfast, lunch or dinner you hear me?"

Winter flinched lightly at the acidic tone, and nodded speaking in a soft voice "Yea Aunt Petunia, but…"

Her Aunt pinned her with a look and raised an eyebrow in silent askance.

"May I go outside all day instead of the cupboard?"

Her Aunt stared at her a moment before appearing to think about it. Apparently the idea of not having the 'Freak' in the house at all on such a special day was too tempting, because she nodded "Use the loo and get out then. Go on girl, move!"

Winter rushed out for the loo, and was just as quick, if not faster to rush towards the lake. As soon as she passed the driveway of #4, the Magic in the air almost floored her. Around Holidays the Magic was always more alive, and it was always especially thrilled to find someone, namely Winter, who could see, feel, and share its feelings with everyone. She could feel the Magic at #4, but it always seemed dulled down, as if something was surrounding her home and keeping Magic of all kinds, but her own out. She wasn't sure what it was, but there was some type of Protective Magic around her home.

She laughed as the Magic in the air swirled happily around her, almost shoving her forward towards the lake. She could hear the Magic's laughter and joy as it seemed to whisper to her _**"Go! Go speaker hurry! He is waiting for you! Hurry, hurry! Faster!"**_

She picked up the pace, using her own Magic to laughingly answer _**"I'm going, I'm going! I can't move any faster!"**_

The Magic in the air laughed and whispered _**"Then we will help!"**_ and suddenly the Magic around her swelled before enveloping her like it was wrapping her in an embrace and her feet were just barely hovering over the snow so if anyone looked she would only appear to be standing on the snow. The Magic whispered a command of _**"Run Little One run!"**_ and she obeyed with a laugh. The Magic pushed her faster than she could have run, but not fast enough for anyone to wonder about it, and she arrived at her lake around 7:45am. The Magic around her was always more powerful on Holidays, but apparently with Jack being present with his Magic and North's Magic still present in the air it was strong enough to interact with her and her Magic. That was the first time the Magic had ever picked her up.

It had helped her before though, like the time when Dudley and his gang had chased her until she thought she was going to collapse only for her Magic to reach out for something, and the Magic in the air reached back, attaching to her Magic where it 'pulled' her forward and she had appeared on the School Roof. She had gotten into trouble for it, but she was glad the Magic in the air had responded to her need.

The Magic that had enveloped her to help her get to the lake laughed happily, almost like a little child, before it set her down whispering playfully _**"Here he comes."**_

That was when Winter felt Jack's Magic envelope her happily in greeting three seconds before Jack himself landed on the ground in front of her with a smile. "Good morning Winter, and Merry Christmas."

Winter smiled widely at him and answered "Good Morning Jack, and Merry Christmas to you too."

Jack grinned at her and raised an eyebrow. "You're jittery. You look… hyper almost."

Winter rubbed the back of her head "Yeah. There's so much Magic in the air right now, it's making me hyper."

Jack had figured out almost instantly that something was off with Winter, not in a bad way or anything, but he had realized that there was something…_more_ there. Eventually he had managed to talk her into telling him she could sense the Magic of the Earth.

He had believed her immediately. After all, he existed and could bring winter with him wherever he went, The Man in the Moon was real and could talk to him, Jack had seen Santa Claus, and he'd seen the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman. He knew Magic existed, so why would Jack doubt that someone existed that could sense it and communicate with it?

Once he had known Winter could see and interact with Magic he had asked her what it was like. Winter told him every bit of Magic in the world had a personality and feelings that reflected its master, and they left a bit of their Magic behind wherever they used it. She told him that around Holidays Magic became particularly hyper and playful, and that she was affected by the Magic's moods so she would be hyper in turn. She told him it was one of the reasons she danced, because the Magic around her would dance with her and she could channel that hyper energy into something productive that left her in shape and flexible as a bonus.

Jake smiled. It seemed like a nice way to start the day, and Jack had discovered he liked to dance on ice with Winter. It was fun, and when she was in contact with him and channeling the Magic around her, channeling his Magic through her dance, Jack could feel the Magic to a lesser extent than Winter herself, and it was amazing. With that in mind he extended his hand to her and with a challenging smirk asked "Dance with me than?"

Winter grinned and grabbed his hand, an echoing smirk she had learned from Jack on her face, as she told him "Only if you can keep up."

Jack's grin widened at the challenge and he scoffed "You've got it." And he pulled her out onto the ice. He watched as her hair blew away from her face and he felt the Magic in the air lightly brush against his consciousness through his touch on Winter herself. He couldn't imagine what full contact with that Magic felt like if it was so potent in the small dose Jack could feel. Her eyes opened and she pinned Jack with glowing emerald eyes and a challenging smirk Jack knew was a mirror of his own. The only warning Jack had was her command of "Keep Up" and then they were moving over the ice, and Jack laughed.

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They stayed on the ice until around 9:00am where Jack finally told her "Okay. I have some surprised for you."

Winter, who had calmed slightly now that she had worked some of the excess energy off asked "Are we flying there?"

"No, we're flying later, but….we're going to use this" Jack reached behind a tree and pulled out a large circular piece of metal that was big enough for Winter to sit on.

She raised an eyebrow "A garbage can lid?"

Jack smirked like he knew something she didn't. "Just trust me." He walked her over to a large hill of snow he had created earlier and set the garbage can lid down. Winter walked over with him and watched silently. Once the lid was on the ground Jack commanded "Sit." Winter was a little nervous about what Jack was planning, but she trusted him enough to follow the command without question.

Once she settled she asked "Now what?"

She was looking at Jack, so she had a very nice view of the look on his face as it shifted to a look of playful warning amusement and he told her "Now you hold on and enjoy the ride."

And then they were rushing down the hill with Jack forming slick ice in front of the make-shift sled that allowed Winter to go faster than she ever would on only snow, and after the first second of shock, an excited whoop left her mouth that had Jack smirking to himself as he guided the ice she was sledding on towards their next stop.

Winter spent the entire ride laughing as Jack lead her on a twisting and turning adventure through the snow, but eventually Jack slowed her to a stop in front of a 6" Douglas Fir tree that Winter couldn't even begin to wonder where he had gotten.

"Jack…?"

Jack smirked "Well you said that the Dursleys never let you participate in their 'Family Christmas Traditions' so I decided to do something about it. After all, what's Christmas without decorating a tree?"

Winter stood slowly as she absorbed what Jack was saying, and she slowly approached the tree and reached out to brush her hands over the branches and inhaled deeply at the scent of it. Jack followed behind her feeling rather proud of himself. "What do you think?"

Winter turned to pin Jack with bright shimmering emerald eyes and then she was running to tackle Jack in a hug that knocked Jack right off his feet and onto his back, his staff lying next to him in the snow, and his arms wrapped around the girl who he had instinctively caught. "Winter?"

Her response was muffled by his chest where Winter had buried her face, but he heard it anyway and it brought a large smile his face, and a light happily dancing snowfall. "Thank you Jack. This is the best Christmas ever, and you're the best friend a girl could ever have."

"Don't worry about it Winter. You're not a bad best friend yourself you know."

She sat up with a happy smile and watery eyes as she told him "Well the tree isn't going to decorate itself. Let's go."

Jack sat up and both of them stood where Jack jogged over to a box tucked under the tree and pulled it out. The box was full of ornaments Jack had sculpted out of ice the night before, but his eye widened when he noticed three things tucked into the box that Jack certainly hadn't put in there himself. The first was a lovely piece of garland that was an ice blue color, a small box with _To: Winter, From: Santa_ scrawled on a tag, and the third was a small envelope with _Jack_ scrawled in the front.

He brought the box over to Winter and handed her the box saying "North left it." And he watched her eyes widen with wonder as she looked at the small box in her hands.

She slowly moved to open the box under Jack's watchful eyes and pulled the bright red wrapping paper off. Inside were a beautiful set of hair clips for holding her hair back. Jack could see a set of clips that had reindeer rearing up, a set with Easter Eggs, a set with Fairies, a set with golden swirls, a set with snowflakes, and a set with bright silver crescent moons.. Winter and Jack both knew each of the designs were a reference to North himself, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, Jack himself, and the Man in the Moon. Winter smiled widely and asked "Did he leave you something?"

"Just this." He held up the note with his name and she made an 'And' motion with her hands that had Jack opening the letter.

_Jack_

_Thank you for looking after Winter. Bunny, Sandy, Tooth and I have tried for many years to do something, but the only two of us that could do something before now were Tooth and Sandy, the rest of us could never leave anything for her without her relatives taking it for their boy. _

_Thanks to you I have been able to leave something for her that I knew she would get, and the others asked me to leave a hair clip in their honor as well. I took the liberty of leaving some garland for your tree since there are no lights as well._

_Tell Winter thank you for never losing faith in us despite the troubles we had getting anything to her on our various Holidays? I'd have gotten her something bigger, but I'm afraid her relatives would take it away if it were not small enough to hide._

_Merry Christmas_

_North_

Winter smiled, looked up towards the sky and called out "Don't worry about it, It wasn't your fault." Then she turned to Jack with a smile, tucking the box of hair clips into her pocket except one of the snowflake clips which she used to pin her bangs back. "Now I believe we have a tree to decorate."

Jack smiled and handed one end of the icy blue garland while he took the other and wrapped it around the top of the tree while Winter started running around the tree to wrap the lower branches. Once the garland was up Jack split the ornaments he had made the night before with Winter who started decorating the lower branches while Jack floated up and took care of the upper branches. They chatted as they worked and an hour later Jack landed and turned to Winter stating "Only one thing left." She looked at him curiously and he handed her an ice star before picking her up bridal style and flying up to the top of the tree telling her "You do the honors since it's your first Christmas."

She obeyed with a smile asking "Isn't it your first Christmas too?"

"Yeah, but I figured I'd put the star on next time."

Winter's smile grew huge at the thought of doing this again with Jack and she asked "Promise?" remembering him saying he'd always keep his promises to her.

"Promise."

They landed on the ground and Winter turned to face Jack, not sure what else he may have come up with, but excited none the less. "What's next?"

Jack pinned her with mischievous eyes as he answered "Now? Now you duck." And then he was throwing a snowball at Winter.

Winter was hit since she hadn't seen it coming, but she laughed and called out "Oh, it's so _on_!

They continued having a snowball fight that Jack would win until around noon, where they would start making snow angels, snow men, and Winter even made a rather lifelike sculpture of Jack made out of snow, which Jack had promptly frozen in ice so it would last longer.

Jack managed to get ahold of some bread and fruit that he shared with Winter for lunch where he then dragged her to continue their day of fun until night fell at which point Jack told her "Come here Winter. We're going flying I've got something to show you." Winter came over trustingly and wrapped an arm around his shoulders like she had the first time they flew.

Jack lifted them off the snowy ground, and Winter felt a rush of excitement as she found herself no longer on the ground. She knew then that she would never grow tired of flying ever, and she would always love it.

Jack took her higher and they moved over the town together as lights came on all over the place. Winter gasped as she watched Christmas lights all over town get turned on and reflect off the snow in beautiful rainbows of light that left Winter breathless. Jack grinned as he flew her over the town showing her all the different lights and decorations, but eventually he landed on their lake and Winter hugged him again telling him "This was the best Christmas ever! Thank you!"

Jack grinned "Yeah it was, but we have one more thing left to do." She pinned him with confused, but happy eyes "I wasn't sure what to get you fir Christmas. I thought about getting you a necklace, but that can be taken from you. I wanted to get something that you'd have always so I settled on a magical tattoo. It will allow you to talk to me whenever you want no matter where I am, and it will let me know if you need me for anything." Jack rubbed the back of his head and stuffed his hands into his blue hoodie. "Will you let me give it to you?"

Winter was absolutely thrilled with the idea of being able to talk to Jack no matter what, and she was willing to get whatever was needed to do so. "Yes! I was worried about when you left. I have something for you too."

He grinned "Good where would you like the tattoo?"

Winter thought about it for a minute and then answered "My shoulder blade. The one on my left." She turned and shifted the way to big shirt off her shoulder so he could reach it and waited. She felt his hand touch her shoulder blade where cold, cold magic worked its way onto her skin. She felt it sink into her skin down to her bones and then leave a moment later. "What does it look like?" she asked. She knew the Magic chose the shape of Magic Tattoos so she waited.

"My staff" Jack answered. She smiled. "It's tilted slightly so the top leans to your left and the top is blue like when I'm channeling a lot of ice magic through it." She smiled wider. She liked it.

"My turn. Where do you want your tattoo? It will let me send you my Magic if you ever need it and it will make talking to each other easier. It'll also let me know if you're in trouble or hurt." She had been thinking about giving him something like this before he had mentioned giving her a tattoo, but this made it easier.

Jack's eyes widened a bit before he smiled. If it let him talk to Winter easier, he was willing to get a Magical Tattoo. "Same as yours." He pulled his hoodie off exposing his back to Winter, who walked over and placed both hands on his left shoulder blade. Jack could feel warm Magic sink into his skin down to the bone where it stayed a moment before retreating. "What did I get?" he asked after a moment.

Winter smiled "You've got an Artic Wolf that is lying down on a snow pile." Her eyes widened a bit when the wolf sat up and cocked its head at her. She forgot Magical Tattoos were basically alive. "….It moves."

"What?" Jack looked over his shoulder at her and she repeated herself.

"Your tattoo moves. It's stating at me." Winter watched as the wolf bared its fangs "Sorry. He. He is moving." The wolf nodded once and as if to prove she wasn't lying the wolf, who Winter decided to call 'Frost' as a tribute to Jack and as a reference to the wolf's snow white coat, walked down Jacks arm and sat on the back of his hand. Jack stared at the wolf and the wolf stared at him.

"Well…that was unexpected. What should I call you then?"

"Frost." Winter answered. Jack snorted before looking at the wolf, who nodded the okay.

"Frost it is." Then he paused "Does your tattoo do anything like this?"

Winter thought about it "Well you said it was glowing like when you used your Magic, so it probably changes depending on the season. It might even cause a tattoo snowstorm on my back." She felt the tattoo tingle approvingly "…I think I just got told 'that's right' by my tattoo…."

Jack and Winter stared at each other, before smiling. "Merry Christmas" the chorused to each other, and with a parting hug Winter ran for #4.

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**Ok so expect a time skip next chapter so I can start the HP timeline! I will explain how Jack's and Winter's bond grew during the time we're skipping so whoo! Thanks for the reviews you guys! ^_^**


	5. Chapter 5

…**Wow. I mean…..**_**wow.**_** I just realized I had gotten over 70 reviews in four days…I mean…I…just…You guys! TTwTT I love you. TTwTT **

**You guys seemed like my Tattoo idea. –grin- I'm glad.**

**THE DURSLEYS GET WHAT'S COMING TO THEM THIS CHAPTER! Warning given. –evil smirk- (This was shorter than normal, but I hope the content makes up for it XP)**

**Enjoy!**

**Oh! Almost forgot!**

_~this is Jack/Winter mentally communicating via use of their tattoos~_

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Winter's eleventh Birthday brought with it surprising news, that when Winter thought about it, wasn't that surprising. It also brought a major change along with it. One neither Jack nor Winter had expected, but appreciated in the end.

She got a letter telling her she was a Witch and she was invited to go to a place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had known she was a witch, but she hadn't known there was a school for people like her.

It hadn't been an easy year since Jack had moved on to bring winter to other places. He had stayed as long as he could, but eventually the winter spirit had to move on, and the two of them had worked together through many trial and error attempts that lead to massive headaches in order to use their tattoo anchored mental bond.

After the first month Winter and Jack were both happy to say they had mastered the art of mental speech, and no longer ended up with throbbing headaches as a result of their attempts to speak to each other. In fact they were good enough to seamlessly slip into each other's minds and in some serious cases into each other's dreams.

Once Jack had left the Dursleys seemed to get worse and worse, especially as Winter's eleventh birthday approached. She started getting hit more, shoved into the cupboard more often, fed less, and now her bones were broken sometimes on top of minor cuts and scratches. Winter had heard her Aunt hissing to her Uncle shortly before the abuse started getting worse "Vernon, _that day_ is approaching soon, and _they_ will come to teach her to use her _freakishness._"

Her Uncle had growled back "We'll just have to teach the Freak her place before then. She'll never use her Freakishness on us after that I'll make sure of it."

Her Magic was working hard to fix all the damage her Uncle, Aunt, and cousin were causing in their attempts to 'teach the Freak her place.' Jack had been absolutely _livid_ when he figured out what was happening. He had been so angry Winter had actually felt her tattoo of Jack's Staff surge with his Magic and drop a few degrees before she watched tattoo-snowflakes swirl around her arms and back up to her back in a mimicry of the blizzard Winter knew Jack was causing wherever he was.

He had immediately started supplementing her Magic with his own so she could heal more injuries faster, and all the while she could hear him darkly hissing about what he was planning to do to her relatives the next time he saw them. Something neither had expected as a result of having Jack's Magic running through her at a near constant stream was the extreme resilience to cold and the hatred of heat she seemed to be developing.

In between her healing herself with Jack's help the two of them talked to each other about everything from their likes, dislikes, dreams, and fears to what they were doing, what they were going to do, what they hoped to do and they even sat down to compare prank ideas. They bonded closer together as the year progressed until they day of her eleventh birthday when Winter received her letter.

It had started out well for Winter. She woke up, not to her Aunt banging on the cupboard door, but to Jack's voice in her mind soft and excited _~Good morning Winter and Happy Birthday. I'll bring you something next time I see you okay?~_

Winter had smiled responding _~Thank you and Good morning, I can't wait to see you again.~_

Then she had spent a little while talking to Jack about random things before her Aunt banged on the cupboard door after unlocking it with the demand of "Girl! Come make Breakfast!"

She had gotten up, ignoring the feeling of bruised ribs that had been broken ribs the night before, and headed for the kitchen where she had made breakfast with quick expert hands that stealthily slipped bits of bacon into her pocket unnoticed and she even managed to eat some of the biscuits she was making and a bit of the ham. She set the food down, and her Aunt scanned it for imperfections, but when she found none she commanded sharply "Go get the mail Girl."

Winter had gotten the mail and found, much to her surprise, a letter on thick parchment addressed to "Winter Abigail Potter: The Cupboard Under the Stairs" She had opened it up and read it as she headed for the dining room where her cousin and Uncle were both stuffing themselves on her food, until Dudley spotted the letter, which Winter had already read, in her hands where he promptly declared, while ripping the letter from her hands "Dad! Winter is reading the mail!"

Winter felt her stomach drop into her feet and tangle itself up. _"Oh no."_

She watched her Uncle's face go purple as he took the letter from his son and he snarled at her "Why are you touching _my mail_ Girl?"

Winter answered truthfully, and braced for anything "It was addressed to me sir."

She watched as he looked down at the letter in his hand, read it, went sickly pale, and then turned a dangerous shade of purple. Her stomach quickly rose from her feet to her throat and made her want to choke, and all she could think was _"Oh God this is going to _hurt_ no, no, no."_ and then her Uncle was up and towering over her with his hand raised and she flinched back slightly and braced for the hit she knew was coming.

The blow was hard.

Harder than any other time she ever remembered him hitting her. Winter actually hit the floor and slid.

She felt her tattoo flare, and a surge of livid protective anger and she hissed at Jack over their link _~No! No Jack Please. You'll make it worse, please don't!~_

She could hear him snarl mentally and she pulled herself up just in time for her Uncle to stomp over to her and swing at her again, roaring "You think you can bring more of your _freakishness_ into my home? You think I'll let you be _trained_ to _use_ your freakishness? DID YOU THINK THAT WOULD BE OKAY?! DID YOU, YOU LITTLE FREAK?"

She answered the only way she could "No sir! No! I was just-"

He snarled viciously and wrapped his hand around her hair to yank her to her feet where he continued to snarl, spittle flying from his lips "You were just? You were just _what?_ Being an ungrateful, good for nothing selfish bitch! That's what you were doing! I'll not have it! I will _not_ have it! Not in MY HOUSE!" He threw her across the floor where she slammed into the wall.

She could feel Jack's ferocious anger growing stronger and stronger with each injury and insult Vernon caused or hurled and she worried about the result of that anger. She knew Jack wouldn't hurt her, but if Jack lashed out on her behalf the Dursleys would harm her. Jack knew that. It was the _only_ thing keeping him from lashing out as he witnessed through Winter's eyes what was happening.

Winter hit the floor and gasped for air.

Her ribs were broke again.

Vernon stomped over and grabbed her hair again. Winter whimpered, grabbing her hair in an attempt to lessen the pain as Vernon stomped past Petunia and Dudley who were pressed against the furthest wall in the house staring wide eyed at Vernon as he raged.

He stomped into the kitchen and threw Winter into the wall before grabbing the butcher knife from its stand and turning to face her. Winter's eyes went wide _"He _wouldn't._ There's no way…"_

He took a step snarling "Well no more! You are a Freak! I'll not have a _trained_ Freak in **my** house near **my** family! No More!" He took another step.

Winter realized _"Yes. Yes he would. I'm going to die."_

There was a _roar_ in her mind, as if a dragon had been unleashed, or more accurately the roar of 1000 blizzards of the worst caliber, and her tattoo _burned._

It was the only warning Winter, Vernon or the rest of the Dursleys received.

Suddenly there was _snow_ and _ice_ and _wind_ and _anger_, so much anger as the ice, snow and wind combined into a ferocious blizzard that surrounded Winter protectively and Winter could hear Jack's voice carried on the winds, projected by his Magic loud and dangerous and deadly in its ferociously cold protective anger **"You will not touch her. You will never touch her again."**

And then he was _there_ and Winter didn't even know _how_ it happened, but he was there crouching protectively in front of her body his eyes glowing a fierce shade of silver-blue, and Winter watched in shock as her Uncle, Aunt and cousin-who had followed Vernon to the kitchen- all focused wide terrified eyes on him. Her Uncle swelled up pompously as he snapped "Who are you, you freak?"

And Winter saw Jack's eyes shift suddenly to the deep dark blues of a black lake frozen in the depths of winter and stilled completely.

Winter watched in silent shock as Jack leaned forward and in a deceptively soft but sharp voice that reminded Winter of the small sound a pebble made just before it caused an Avalanche he whispered "I am Jack Frost, and you have harmed someone under my protection. You have harmed her for the last time."

With that said, Winter watched as Jack lifted his staff up two inches off the floor before slamming it down once, and there was a sharp sound almost like a gong being sounded in a silent room, and silence for only a moment.

Then Winter watched the Magic explode out of Jack's staff with the ferocious power of winter and envelop her relatives in ice, turning each of them into frozen, terrified statues, frozen forever in time exactly as they were. She watched his frozen eyes flicker over each of them considering for a few seconds before he waved his staff sharply to the right and each statue shattered into millions of pieces, never to harm the only person Jack considered precious ever again.


	6. Chapter 6

**From Guest reviewer "Um. Hi" OMG YOU FLATTERED ME SO MUCH TTwTT I actually blushed. Thank you SOSOSO much I don't even….TTwTT You're so sweet! Thank you! **

**IMPORTANT NOTE AT THE BOTTOM!**

**READ IT PLEASE!**

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Albus Dumbledore had always thought himself to be a smart man. He had always thought himself smart enough to avoid any problems. He thought himself infallible, and as a result never asked for help, or told anyone anything he knew because after all, he was _Albus Dumbledore_ and why would anything go wrong?

Albus Dumbledore was about to learn he was just as human as everyone else, and mistakes could be made, especially when you had no one to back you up.

He was about to learn that everything that could go wrong would go wrong.

When Dumbledore placed Winter Potter into the Dursley home, he placed blood wards up around the home that would fully activate when Winter was accepted into the Dursley home. In their most basic form, they blocked most magic from getting into their home, but once activated completely the wards would stop anyone with a Magical signature from entering the home among other things.

However while the Dursleys took Winter into their home, they never a_ccepted _her into their home. It was this fact alone that was about to throw Dumbledore's world off its axis, and he wasn't even going to know about it for a while yet because all the gadgets and spells he set up to monitor Winter Potter's home never activated because the blood wards they were supposed to monitor never activated properly. Therefore they didn't go off when Jack entered the home and attacked the Dursleys.

He was completely unaware anything had happened. All because he hadn't double checked his work. All because he hadn't asked someone to watch over Winter.

He would come to regret his decision of leaving Winter Potter with the Dursleys immensely.

O~O~O~O~

Winter stared at the millions of pieces that were all that remained of her tormentors. _"Eleven years…eleven years of this hell…and now they're gone. Forever."_ She wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry or do both.

Jack looked at his handy work for another moment before he waved his staff sharply down. The blizzard he had caused inside the house stopped, and all the ice and snow melted away into nothing, leaving zero traces of the previous mess. The house simply looked to be abandoned.

After scanning the home for another minute, and making sure he left nothing behind, Jack turned to face Winter.

While Jack had been cleaning up his mess, the adrenaline that had kept Winter from feeling anything faded, and she fell back from her sitting position with a whimper. Jack whipped around to face her, his eyes lightening to a sea blue rather than the icy blue Winter was used to.

Jack rushed over to Winter, muttering darkly about Vernon as he went. "Winter? Winter are you alright? No, wait, stupid question. What's hurt?" his hands hovered over her, wanting to help, but not sure what he could touch without causing pain.

Winter gasped as her Magic worked frantically to heal her injuries, but she started telling Jack her injuries so he would know where to direct his Magic to help. "I have multiple bruises… few cuts…My wrist is sprained…Ribs are broken…again…Moving hurts…I'm not sure if I can stand up. My ankle is either sprained or broken from the landing after he threw me into the wall…Back is sore, but that's from the tumble into the wall too…I may have a concussion….um….I think that's it. You got here in time." She could feel Jack's Magic swirling dangerously through the air with each injury she listed, and she heard him growl lowly before standing.

He paced for a few seconds before he sat down next to her head and started feeding his Magic into the injury so it would heal. He needed to get Winter out of the house, but he couldn't move her with a head injury. Winter realized what he was doing, and started directing her magic to that injury so it would heal faster. After a half hour Jack stood, leaned his staff against the wall, and picked Winter up bridal style. He turned and Winter grabbed his staff with her uninjured hand and laid it across her body so the hand under her knees could grab the end, while carefully laying the hooked end over her shoulder.

"Where are we going?" Winter asked softly.

Jack looked down at her. "We're going to head to the Wizarding World. I know where it is, since I have to bring winter there, and you have an offer of schooling to respond to." Jack then jumped out the closest window and they were off.

O~O~O~O~O~

Jack landed lightly on the ground in front of the largest bank Winter had ever seen.

She could see "Gringotts Bank" carved in large letters on the white marble and she stared. Jack didn't let her stare for long, and using his Magic to hide Winter from sight so no one would question why she was floating, and he stepped inside the bank.

Winter's eyes went wide, and she would have swayed if she was on her feet, as the huge amount of Protection Magic brushed against her mind. There was _so much_ and it was everywhere layer after layer of it. It was making her dizzy and she hissed through her teeth at Jack "Jack _hurry._ There's too much magic in here."

Jack sped up as much as he could, heading for a teller who was staring right at them. "Can I help the two of you?" he asked.

Winter felt Jack tense when he realized he could be seen, but he answered "We need to get into Winter Potter's vault. She doesn't have her keys, but she would like to recall all of them from whoever has them."

The goblin, because that is all this being could be, looked down at Winter, and she saw his eyes narrow dangerously at her. "We will need a blood sample to ensure you are who you say. This way." The goblin led them to through a door, took a left and through another door, before stopping four doors later and turning right into a room. He stepped inside and Winter sighed softly when she felt a ward block the Magic outside the door from getting inside. Jack stepped inside and she felt his hold tighten as the goblin walked over with a small dagger.

Winter tensed at the sight of the dagger, having a mini-flashback to her Uncle advancing with the butcher knife, and she whimpered softly burrowing into Jack in an attempt to avoid the dagger. Jack shifted his stance and growled lowly "I'll have to ask you to hand the dagger over."

The goblin paused, wanting to snap that he was doing his job, but he took in the way Jack was gripping Winter protectively, eyes focused on his movements and the dagger, and the way Winter was staring with frightened half glazed eyes at dagger in his hand, and he decided to obey. He handed over the dagger with a sharp command of "We need her blood. You can draw it yourself right now over this parchment and let a drop hit it, but you may not leave my sight while you do so."

Jack shifted Winter to one hand and nodded once carefully as he took the dagger from the goblin and handed it to Winter. Winter relaxed slightly as soon as Jack had the dagger in his hands, and accepted it when he offered it to her handle first. "Just a prick?" she asked the goblin, holding her bad hand over the parchment so she could use her good hand to create the cut. The goblin nodded once, and Winter pricked her pointer finger lightly. The blade was sharp and easily drew blood which Winter allowed to drip onto the parchment as she handed the dagger back to the goblin and watched him carefully clean it and put it away.

On the parchment, in flowing black script, _Winter Abigail Potter_ appeared. The goblin looked it over before nodding and bowing his head slightly as he said "Follow me. Someone wants to see you."

Winter and Jack looked at each other in confusion, but followed the goblin silently. _~Jack? Do you know what this is about?~_

His response was quick and slightly guarded _~No. We didn't even know we were coming here until a few hours ago, so I don't know why he would take us anywhere…unless something was wrong.~_

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye _~I hope nothing is wrong. I've had enough problems today.~_ her mental voice was tired.

Jack glanced at her even as he continued to follow the goblin _~I hope so too. Your first experience in the Wizarding World shouldn't be fixing any banking problems.~_

It took a few minutes and a lot of turns, so many in fact that Winter was almost sure someone would have to guide them out, but eventually the goblin they were following stopped in front of a gold-plated door with Ragnarok carved into the plate in large fancy letters. The goblin turned to face them explaining "This is Ragnarok's office. He's the head of our bank, and our King, and he has been waiting for you, both of you."

Winter and Jack exchanged surprised and confused looks before Winter asked the question on both their minds. "He's been waiting for both of us? But…we didn't even know we were coming."

The goblin nodded "He is waiting for both of you inside. It is not my place to say how or why. He will explain to you." The goblin knocked once and pushed the door open for Jack and Winter to go inside.

Jack entered warily and walked towards the desk where a war-scarred goblin sat waiting.

Jack placed Winter carefully into a chair in front of the desk, and gripped his staff warily. The goblin in front of them, Ragnarok they assumed, took in their appearances and frowned. "He said you were coming. He also said you would be injured." Here Ragnarok focused on Winter before continuing, "I took the liberty of keeping some potions up here to take care of your injuries since we will be up here for quite a while." His voice was gravely, but not to unpleasant and he reached down for a potion he had by his side before offering in to Winter. "The potion is goblin made and is therefore rather potent. It should take care of all of your injuries."

Winter was willing to take the potion if it would heal everything, and since Jack made no move to stop her, she decided to trust the goblin and downed the potion in one go, her face scrunching up in disgust at the taste. Jack was watching Winter, and Winter's eyes were closed at the taste, so both missed the way Ragnarok's eyes widened in slightly in surprise when neither of them checked the potion like every other Wizard or Witch he had seen get potions from goblins do. It was a small sign of trust, and one Ragnarok hadn't been expecting from either of them. _"He was right. They will be the keys to very important changes later on. He also said they will need my nations help…so far I am agreeable to that."_

Winter swallowed the potion and shuddered, not only because it tasted horrible, but because she could _feel_ the Magic in the potion taking effect. She could feel it like it was a particularly dedicated nurse, judiciously working its way through her body finding and mending each sprain, each bruise, every scrape, and she smiled at the goblin behind the desk, bowing her head lightly as she told him "Thank you sir."

This time she saw his eyes widen in surprise, though it was barely noticeable, and after a half-second pause he nodded saying "You're welcome."

Jack watched as Winter relaxed, and put weight on places she hadn't been, and decided in that moment that this Ragnarok fellow was alright, even if he had known they were coming before they knew themselves. He focused his eyes back on the goblin repeating Winter's earlier "Thank you" and receiving the same response before he asked "The goblin that escorted us here told us you were expecting us, but we didn't even know we were coming. How did you know?"

Ragnarok answered them truthfully. "In order to answer that question I will have to tell you a bit about our society." Jack settled into the chair next to Winter, his staff gripped carefully but not in a threatening manner. Ragnarok took in the way both of them settled in to hear what he had to say, and the way their eyes glimmered with curiosity, and he knew _He_ had been right about these two. They would bring with them a change. A good one. So he settled himself and began to explain.

"Since the very beginning of our existence, before the first Wizard or Witch even knew we existed, we have known there were beings that ranked higher than anyone in the world. We have also known that they watch over and protect children of all races, children of all people. Goblins value children more than anything, even gold. They are precious and rare, and they are our future." Here Ragnarok's eyes glazed as if he were remembering something and quoting it from memory. "Children are to be watched over and guided away from harm. They are to be defended with our lives for Children are all that we have, all that we are, and all we will ever be." He focused on them again after that. "We knew this, and when we discovered a higher power that shared our views and even chose people to protect children of all kinds we chose to worship him as our deity. We call him Garron which means 'guardian'. He speaks to us in times of great need, or great change to come. Garron knew you would come here and told us ahead of time so we would be ready."

Jack and Winter absorbed this with wide eyed wonder. "But…we're nothing special. Why would he tell you we were coming?" Winter asked what both she and Jack were thinking.

Ragnarok answered "He sees that you both will bring change with you, and it will be a good one. He did not tell us what the change was, but He said it would be a good one. He also told us you would need our help, and we are willing to provide it." _"He also told us Jack was one of His Chosen, but to say nothing because it had to be Jack's choice."_

Jack asked the next question "What will you be helping us with…?"

Ragnarok answered by pulling out a scroll and unrolling it as he explained what it did. "This scroll will be used to emancipate Winter Potter, and make her an adult in the Wizarding World's eyes. It will allow Winter to do as she pleases and use magic anywhere as long as she doesn't give away our existence to nonmagical folk. We've put it through all the proper channels and all it needs now is a signature from Miss Potter. This will also pull all your keys to your vaults back into our possession so that only you and those you choose will have access to your vault."

Winter stared in surprise at both Ragnarok and the parchment on his desk. She reached for it and Ragnarok handed it over readily. Winter quickly read over the parchment while Jack read it over her shoulder. It did exactly as Ragnarok said and she grinned a bit "You have a pen?" Ragnarok passed her pen and Winter signed the signature line and watched in surprise as the scroll rolled itself up and disappeared in a flash.

Ragnarok flashed a grin that showed all of his sharp teeth and he answered their silent question "It was accepted. Congratulations Miss Potter. You are now considered an adult in the eyes of Wizarding Society. I also extend the hand of my nation to dub you both 'Goblin Friend'. Should you accept this the entire nation will recognize you as Friend and you will be treated with upmost respect, and you will be able to call upon my people and I when you are in need of assistance."

Winter and Jack stared in shock at the war-scared goblin that had a look in his eyes that suggested, if they accepted, he would be gaining a major advantage over everyone else.

Winter and Jack looked at each other. _~Do you think we should accept?~_

_~Well, he has helped up so far, and he even healed me. He hasn't given us a reason not to accept so far.~_

_~That's true. I've seen the goblins in my previous visits. They're a warrior race that are honorable and keep their word. They also run the only bank in the Wizarding World.~_

They nodded at each other before turning to Ragnarok and chorusing "We Accept."

Ragnarok grinned toothily. "Excellent."

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**Regarding Jack killing Dudley: As of this moment, Jack is NOT a Guardian and the only important person to him is Winter. Dudley participated in harming Winter multiple times while Jack was forced to watch through Winter what was happening, but not do anything.**

**The way I see it, is Jack is a winter spirit, and while I love winter and snow, it is also true that winter causes deaths via freezing or falls through the ice ect. What I'm seeing right now is Winter is the only person that matters to Jack at this moment, so he's willing to bring out that 'death' aspect of his winter self for her so she is never hurt again.**

**Also, Jack will reflect on what he did (He does NOT regret killing Petunia/Vernon, but Jack likes children and making them have Fun so he will think about it, and decide he never wants to do that again.)Yes, he'd do it again to protect Winter, but Never again after that. I'm using this incident as the incident that cements Jack's will to Protect Children, thus the true moment he becomes a "Guardian" until that moment the other Guardians couldn't interfere, because Jack was not obligated to protect the children yet, and thus his actions from before that moment where he decides to protect the Children cannot be interfered with. If he did it again? Oh absolutely. But again, that moment is the moment that REALLY causes Jack to be a Guardian.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Everyone is just so….GAH! You guys spoil me and ILOVEIT LOVEITSOMUCH! Garron **is** MiM for those of you wondering. ^_^ Also I POSTED A ONESHOT COLLECTION THAT TAKES PLACE IN THIS STORY FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT WANT TO ALERT IT!**

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Winter had, at the request of Ragnarok, provided copies of her memories of her abuse. This way they had proof of why they had allowed her to be emancipated. Ragnarok had been _furious_ at the sight of the abuse and had slipped into a long and violent stream of Goblin before stopping and looking at Jack and Winter saying "I apologize for my language. One should not speak that way in front of a lady."

Jack and Winter blinked answering "It's fine. We didn't understand anything any way."

Ragnarok grumbled a moment before saying "Still. That was improper. I understand that you have received your Hogwarts Letter. Have you replied to it yet?"

Winter shook her head "Not yet no."

Jack continued "I took her here first since I knew we would need money for her supplies."

Ragnarok nodded. "If you would like to write out your answer here, we will send it with one of our owls. I will have someone take you down to your vault and explain the money system to you along the way as well." He reached into a drawer on his left before pulling out a brown leather pouch about the size of Winter's fist and handing it to her explaining "This is a spelled pouch. It will key itself to you and no one will be able to take it away from you. No one will even be able to touch it without your permission. The pouch is spelled to be feather-light and almost endless space wise on the inside. Place your hand over the open top and ask for what you want after placing items inside and the named item will fly into your hand."

Winter and Jack stared at the little pouch in awe for a moment before telling Ragnarok "Thank you!" Winter attached the pouch to her belt loop and made a note to go clothes shopping as soon as possible.

Ragnarok nodded and pressed a button on his right. A moment later there was a knock and Ragnarok called "Come in."

The door opened and a goblin with a long scar on his right eye stepped inside before placing his right arm over his chest and bowing slightly "Yes sir?"

"Take Miss Potter and Mr. Frost down to her vault please. Here is her key." He handed over the key that had appeared after Winter had signed the emancipation papers, along with three others, to the goblin saying "Miss Potter, Mr. Frost this is Poisonclaw. He will be taking you down to your vault and explaining our money system to you. He is also your account manager Miss Potter, so if you ever have questions about that, ask the tellers out front to see him."

Winter quickly penned an affirmative response to her Hogwarts letter and then Jack and Winter stood chorusing "Thank you." Before following Poisonclaw out of the door and towards the carts that would take them down to Winter's vault.

Ragnarok grinned _"They will do great things together. They are becoming each other's strength already, just as you said they would Garron. I look forward to the exploits to come."_

Jack and Winter climbed into the cart with Poisonclaw at the front, and were slightly surprised when Poisonclaw told Jack "You may want to put your staff away before we move." Jack had looked at his staff then Poisonclaw before he turned to Winter, offering her the staff silently. Winter took it and pushed it into her pouch. Both of them watched the staff disappear into the bag with awe before sitting down. The moment they sat belts snapped shut on their laps and then they were moving so fast the walls blurred around them. Winter and Jack smiled and let out excited whoops at the speed making Poisonclaw smirk. Most people that rode the carts ended up green and silent in fear by the end of it. These two just whooped excitedly and Winter had even asked if it went faster. Poisonclaw was all too willing to prove that it _did_ in fact go faster, but soon they reached Winter's vault where Poisonclaw explained the money system to the both of them.

Winter and Jack memorized the information before Poisonclaw led Winter up to her vault and inserted her key, opening it.

Both Jack and Winter stared with huge eyes at the piles of gold silver and bronze laying all over the vault floor. "Winter…your _rich_." Jack whispered scanning all the piles. Winter was only capable of nodding dazedly as she took in the large amount of money lying in her vault. She walked forward dazedly and Jack was a step behind her.

Winter and grabbed quite a few handfuls of every type of coin, dropping them into her pouch so she would have some on hand before looking over the rest of the contents in the vault. It appeared everything inside the vault was money. She walked back out with Jack only to hear Poisonclaw explaining "This is only your Trust Vault. The rest of your inheritance is held it two other vaults further down. Would you like to see them?"

Winter was a bit overwhelmed by the fact she had so much after having so little only hours before, and she decided to take this one step at a time answering "I will visit the other vaults at a later date, unless there is something you think I should see?"

Poisonclaw shook his head answering "As Potter Vault Manager I have kept everything in perfect condition for you. There is nothing pressing for you to see just yet."

Winter nodded "Is there a way to exchange this Wizarding Money for nonmagical money before I leave so I may shop outside the Wizarding World?"

Poisonclaw nodded "Yes. I can get you a credit card before you leave that will work in both in the Magical World and the Nonmagical World."

Winter nodded "Please do. Thank you Poisonclaw."

Poisonclaw nodded, surprised at how polite she was being. He was used to being treated inferior by Wizards and Witches, so it was a bit odd to be treated politely, even if he did appreciate it. They climbed back into the cart, but this time Poisonclaw set it to go as fast as it could smirking to himself as two excited whoops left the children in the cart. Soon enough they arrived at the surface of the bank where Poisonclaw was quick to hand Winter the promised black credit card with a fancy "G" in the center with two dragons rearing up to place their front claws into the top of the "G" on either side. Winter placed the card inside her pouch before pulling Jack's staff out and handing it over to him. He gripped it happily as he had missed its comforting weight despite only a few moments passing.

Winter pulled out the list of supplies Ragnarok had given her when he discovered her Uncle had tossed her copy into the fire shortly after reading it and just before he had attacked her. The very first thing Winter got was her robes. The moment she was what they looked like however, she asked if they could be altered. She was told she could alter the robes as she wished as long as it closed over her shirt.

Winter quickly sketched what she wanted asking if it was appropriate. Once she had the 'okay' Winter's robes were altered to look almost like a black trench coat that magically and seamlessly closed over her shirts, leaving a small V-neck at the top, but was completely open at the front to show her pants. The coat/robe had white lining the bottom edge, the hem of the long sleeves, and the V-neck area that she was told would change to match her Hogwarts House colors. She left quite happy with the changes she made to the very old-fashioned robes and headed for her supplies next. She gathered everything she needed except her school books, Familiar, and wand. She stepped inside the book store and stopped to stare at the huge amount of reading material. There were books _everywhere_ she looked. Shelves and shelves of them that stretched up towards the ceiling. Both Jack and Winter made soft noises of happiness at the sight of them all.

Before Jack had met Winter and before Winter had met Jack books had been the two's only company. Jack had discovered he could slip in and out of libraries with any book he liked, and no one would ever know. Since no one could see or interact with him, Jack had turned to the numerous limitless worlds of books to keep him company. He always returned the books as soon as he was done reading them since they weren't his though.

Winter on the other hand had turned to books for company when she discovered the Librarian wouldn't let Dudley or his friends into the library because they were a 'disturbance'. Once Winter figured out Dudley couldn't come into the Library it became her safe haven. She started reading while she was there and fell in love with the many escapes, all the knowledge and options the worlds of books offered. Then she found out she was a witch and she had devoured even more books, discovering the books had answers.

To walk into Flourish and Botts and see the huge amount of knowledge and adventure waiting for them was a treat. Both of them stepped inside and quickly located all her required books so they could look for extras.

Winter quickly added _Wizard Traditions and Etiquette_ to her collection as well as _Magical Beasts: The Real, the Unreal, the Unknown and all their Uses_, _Perfect Potions and the Herbs you need for Them_, _Creative ways to Use Old Spells_, and various other books. Jack came back to her with a wide smile and a book in hand whisper-yelling "Winter! Winter Dragons are _real!_ Did you _see this?!_" and he waved a book in her face. Winter grabbed it to read the title of _Muggle Raised? See the Animals you Thought were Myths, but Aren't!_ she grinned widely adding it to her stack of books. She decided the bookstore wasn't going anywhere, and brought the stack to the clerk, who rang everything up. Winter happily paid for the books, taking them and placing each one into her pouch as soon as they were given back.

Jack and Winter slowly left Flourish and Blotts scanning all the shelves, and wanting to dive back inside to systematically work their way through the numerous books just waiting for them. The only thing that kept them moving was the knowledge that Winter still had to get a Familiar and a Wand. Winter decided to get a wand first since she didn't know how long that would take. With that in mind Jack and Winter headed straight for Ollivander's Wands. The moment Winter stepped inside, she staggered into the doorframe. Jack was beside her almost instantly calling "Winter? Winter what happened? Are you okay?"

"By the _Moon_ that's a lot of Magic." Winter had picked up Jack's way of cursing in the year she had known him, replacing standard curse words with various other phrases. Jack scowled when he realized what the problem was, and that he couldn't help her.

There was a thump off to their left and an older man landed on the ground from a ladder. He stared at them with wide, glazed eyes. "Merlin's Beard! A true Spirit and Magic Sensor in my shop at the same time! A Sensor that is Winter Potter, no less!"

Jack moved carefully in front of Winter growling "Who are you and how do you know all that?"

The man, who Jack and Winter assumed was Ollivander, waved a hand "Be calm Spirit. I have what is known as Mage Eyes. They allow me to see what most people do not. It is how I make my wands. Thanks to these eyes I have always known about your kind, and I can 'see' Miss Potter is a Magic Sensor."

Jack lowered his staff from an attack stance to a defensive one that could quickly become offensive. Ollivander turned to Winter "I'm sorry Miss Potter, I cannot block the Magic in the air. That Magic you're feeling is from all the wands. It's how the wands choose their Wizard or Witch, so you will have to bear it I'm afraid."

Winter nodded, having already figured out what the Magic was from and what it was doing. "I understand, but with all due respect sir, could we hurry? This is rather…overwhelming."

Ollivander nodded "Of course, of course." He rushed away to choose the first in what would be a long line of rejected wands.

As Ollivander brought the wands closer to Winter, where their Magic was the most prominent and easiest to sense, Winter would look at Ollivander and tell him "Not that one." And Ollivander would then place the box on his front counter and retrieve another.

He did this for an hour and a half before pausing to stare at her whispering "I wonder…" and then he retreated to the very back of his store, coming back with two old and dusty boxes. He set the one in his left hand down, approaching Winter with the other box.

Winter stared at it for a moment, feeling the Magic on the wand, but something was off. The Magic was too…it was too warm, almost like fire. "That's not it either I'm afraid Mr. Ollivander. It's very close though. This one is too hot. Like fire."

Ollivander looked surprised before telling her "This wand is made of Holly with the core of a Fire Phoenix feather."

She nodded "It is too hot."

With that in mind he nodded and turned to retrieve the last box. Winter drew in a shocked breath as soon as he brought it to her. She could feel its Magic swirling around her searchingly, a cold winter breeze, before it settled on her and she opened the box as it contained something holy and precious. The wand inside was a light grey, and smooth.

Jack leaned forward. He could feel her emotions about this particular wand. He could feel her wonder and hope, her joy at finding this wand, and he _knew_ just like Winter knew, _this_ wand was hers.

The moment she touched the wand she felt the connection. She lifted the wand out of its box, whispering "This is the one." Just before several sparks of blue and silver leapt from the end.

Ollivander smiled. He loved the moment when a witch or wizard found their wand for the first time. He loved the joy and wonder he got to see on their faces. "That, Miss Potter, is an eleven inch wand made from the Hawthorn Tree. Hawthorn trees represent protection and hope. They are said to bring luck. I believe this wand was made from a Hawthorn tree known as the Glastonbury Thorn which is the only Hawthorn to bloom in December, normally around Christmas. The core of this wand is a flight feather from the very rare Ice Griffin. Ice Griffins live in snowy climates and are playful with those they consider precious as well as very, very protective, viciously so, of what they consider theirs. Your wand is quite the combination Miss Potter. I've been looking for that one's owner for a long time. Overall…it's a sturdy but adaptable wand."

Winter turned wide eyes to him whispering "Thank you." She paid for the wand and a holster that fastened onto her arm, allowing her to, with a simple flex of her arm, drop her wand straight into her hand. She quickly asked Ollivander to remove the tracer on her wand that would alert the Ministry of Underage Magic Use, providing him with a copy of her emancipation paper Ragnarok had given her.

All that was left now was her familiar.

She stepped out of Ollivander's store and breathed a sigh of relief. There was a lot of Magic in the air here too, but it was manageable compared to the condensed searching Magic of the Wand Shop.

Ollivander watched Jack and Winter leave his shop with glazed eyes, muttering softly to himself "I was sure she was going to end up with the Brother Wand to the Man who gave her that scar…It appears I was mistaken…instead she ended up with _that_ wand with _that_ Spirit by her side…she has quite the journey ahead of her…I expect great things from you Miss Potter. Great things…" he turned away from the retreating figures and waved his own wand to put all the rejected wands back in their proper places.

Winter was jittery with joy and excitement. Jack just smiled at her antics as Winter headed for the shop where she would chose her familiar. The moment she entered the store she was greeted by noise. Lots of noise, from what looked like cats to frogs and toads and even owls. Winter and Jack scanned the selection with wide eyes before Jack asked "What would you like?"

Winter immediately decided against frogs or toads, instead scanning the cats. She systematically worked her way through them, brushing her Magic against their own to see if one was hers, declining any help the store workers offered. When she realized none of the cats were felt right she headed for the owls. Winter repeated the process of reaching out with her magic, wondering if 'her' familiar was even inside the store. She was surprised when she felt one of the owls reach for her with its Magic. She whipped her head around to stare into the amber eyes of a large female snowy owl. She carefully extended her own Magic to brush against the snowy owls. Seconds later the owl flew from her perch and settled onto Winter's shoulder, fluffing her feathers out and carefully beginning to preen Winter's hair, as if declaring to everyone in the store 'This is my Human'. Winter laughed, quickly collected supplies for her new snowy owl and paid for everything at the counter. She placed the supplies into her pouch, silently thankful once again for the magical thing, where she stepped out into the streets of Diagon Alley.

Jack spoke up behind her "She's beautiful. What are you going to name her?"

The owl turned its head to fix him with bright amber eyes. This didn't surprise Jack. He had discovered in his 298 years on Earth that the animals could always see him, even if the humans couldn't.

Winter paused thoughtfully and eyed her new owl for a few moments. "I think I'll call her…Hedwig."

Jack nodded "Hedwig it is."

Winter turned to face Jack again "Now I have some major nonmagical shopping to do, and we have an entire month before school starts according to that Hogwarts letter. Shall we go?"

Jack grinned, leading Winter towards an out of the way alley before he wrapped an arm around her waist as was custom when they went flying. Winter told Hedwig "You may want to fly yourself girl." Only seconds before Jack and she were off, Hedwig following faithfully behind them.

The had more shopping to do, and Jack planned to spend the month with Winter before her school started showing her the sights of all the places he had to visit.

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**Unexpected, but needed chapter. I promise, next chapter will have Hogwarts in it and the beginning of first year! It's my Birthday today, but I was hit by inspiration to finish this chapter so…XD **


	8. Chapter 8

**You guys…..o/w/o So many Birthday wishes….TTwTT**

**I keep getting asked about Dumbledore Hermione and Ron. Here you go: Hermione will befriend her, Ron is getting a **MAJOR** personality overhaul in my story (Meaning he's not going to act like the Ron we all know, or at least he Mostly will be acting different) and Dumbledore? He will be evil. (A plot bunny started using Bunnymund moves on my brain so that's why this was done. ^_^)**

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That one month between Winter arriving in the Wizarding World and the first day of Hogwarts arrived quickly for both Jack and Winter. Jack had kept his promise and taken Winter around the world with his as he brought snow to the places that needed it, and Winter swore to herself that she would learn some of the different languages she had heard. Over the month that Winter was exposed directly to Jack's Magic she had noticed a few changes.

Her resistance to cold and dislike of heat had increased, while two chin-length bangs that framed her face had changed from her long wavy black to straight white with a silvery sheen.

Winter's entire wardrobe had changed. For her altered school robes she had gotten a few undershirts, quite a few pairs of black dress pants, and a comfortable pair of black dress shoes. Her normal everyday wardrobe included jeans, t-shirts with funny sayings on them, a pair of good running shoes, a few pairs of shorts, and a few turtle necks. When Jack asked about any special occasions, Winter told him she'd get them when she needed them.

Winter had decided to use the train to get to Hogwarts so she would have a chance to meet some of her future classmates. Jack had taken Hedwig ahead to Hogwarts and was waiting to meet her there. Winter had stepped through the false barrier after watching another person she assumed was a Witch run through. She had been right and stepped through the barrier to find the train she was looking for. She had quickly boarded the train and found an empty compartment which she quickly claimed as her own, glad she had arrived early.

Only a few minutes passed before the door opened and a boy with dark brown poked his head in, asking "May I sit here?"

Winter could feel his Magic swirling nervously around him. "Sure." The boy looked relieved as he slipped inside and Winter blinked. His Magic was strong. She could see the different shades of the forest in his Magic. It emitted a strong sense of life and hope under the nervousness. She smiled reassuringly before introducing herself "My name is Winter. What's yours?"

"N-Neville Longbottom."

"Do you like plants Neville?" she could feel the answer was yes. Only someone exceptionally good with plants would have Magic so filled with life and hope that reminded her of Spring.

She was right as his entire face lit up. "Yes! Do you like plants too?"

She smiled "I like to garden, but I don't know much about Magical plants. Would you tell me about them?"

He nodded happily asking "I will, but will you tell me about Muggle plants?"

She nodded "Sounds good to me, and please use Nonmagical instead of Muggle. Muggle labels and therefore breeds a 'us' versus 'them' mentality and that's not good."

He looked surprised and then thoughtful before he nodded "Okay. Do you want to start or do you want me to start?"

Winter smiled "How about we take turns? You tell me about one plant then I'll tell you about a plant?"

He nodded and excitedly started explaining the magical plants he had been working with since he was old enough to life the watering can without dropping it on the plants.

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About thirty minutes later the compartment door opened again and a girl with brown frizzy hair asked "Would you mind if I say with the two of you?" Winter could sense her Magic had an 'old' knowledgeable feel to it, like an old tome, as well as the feeling of an excited child learning something for the first time.

Winter glanced at Neville, who had been listening as she explained the finer points to fruit and vegetable gardening in the Nonmagical world, and both nodded to her. "Sure. Neville and I were comparing Magical and Nonmagical plant life."

Winter watched the girls eyes spark with curiosity as she slipped onto the seat with Winter "Really? Would you mind recapping Magical plants for me? I've never even seen them before since I was Muggle-Raised."

Winter corrected her automatically "Nonmagical. You were raised Nonmagical. Muggle is a labeling word that creates an 'us' versus 'them' mentality and that's bad." The girl absorbed that for a moment before nodding.

"I didn't think of that, but you're right. My name is Hermione by the way."

"I'm Winter and I indirectly introduced Neville earlier."

Neville happily shared the knowledge he held on plants with Hermione, catching her up to the previous place in the conversation before she had walked in. Hermione absorbed the knowledge like a sponge, asking questions that Winter hadn't thought of, and Neville actually had to think about.

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Right before the train was going to leave there was a commotion of red heads at the train platform, and moments later their compartment opened again. A red headed boy asked "Do you mind if I sit here?"

Winter could feel there was more to this one then their appeared. His Magic was sneaky, almost. Like it was hiding something and it felt considering and strategic. She glanced at the others before nodding "My name is Winter. This is Hermione and Neville. Who are you?"

The boy slipped inside silently before answering "Ron."

Winter, Hermione and Neville had moved from their conversation about plants, and were now comparing traditions among other things. They brought Ron into their conversation easily, finding out he was curious about the Nonmagical world as well, the very first thing he had asked them was "What is a Rubber Duck for?"

Hermione and Winter had almost laughed at the question before realizing even Neville looked curious. "You don't know?"

Ron shook his head "Dad works in the Muggle area of the Ministry, and he always wondered, but no one in the family knew."

"Well…A rubber duck is a toy." Hermione started.

Winter continued "It's used in water, usually during a bath."

Hermione kept explaining "Usually they're used by children, but sometimes even adults have them."

The train blew the whistle stopping Winter from adding anything and then they were moving. The rest of the train ride was spent trading information on the Magical and Nonmagical world, tentative friendships starting to form between the four of them.

Eventually Winter brought up something she had been wording about ever since she had read about them "Ron, Neville can you tell me about the Hogwarts Houses?"

Ron and Neville looked at each other before Ron started the explanation. "Well there's Gryffindor. The House symbol is a Lion and the colors are red and gold. It's supposed to have students that are really brave and daring. It's the House of the Courageous and those with Chivalry. Most of my family has gone there. Unfortunately most of the people that go there are not chivalrous and while they are certainly brave and daring they rush in without thought." Winter felt his Magic shift as if agitated with that fact and she reflected that to a person who felt so strategic that was probably annoying.

Neville picked up the explanation "Then there are the Slytherins. Their mascot is a Snake and their colors are green and silver. Slytherins are supposed to have people who are very cunning and ambitious, but most of the people there are ambitious only, and they turn to dark arts and Dark Lords to get the power they want, starting the rumor that everyone in Slytherin is a Dark Wizard. While _most_ people that go there prove that rumor true, it's not solid fact despite how many people seem to take it that way and by default treat the Slytherins like they are Dark Wizards in training…which probably doesn't help and may cause some of the students to become Dark for revenge or something."

Ron picked up the explanation again "Then there's the Ravenclaws. Their symbol is an eagle and their colors are navy blue and bonze. Their house is supposed to be for the intelligent and those who want to learn as much as they can. It certainly has a lot of Bookworms. Unfortunately they seem to have a habit of study, study, study, and nothing else as well as holding their knowledge over people. If they try to help someone they tend to unintentionally come off as know-it-alls instead of someone with the knowledge who is trying to help out."

Neville finished up the explanation "Then there are the Hufflepuffs. Their mascot is a badger and their colors are yellow and black. Their house is for the loyal and hardworking. Everyone tends to view their house as the house of 'leftovers' which I never understood. What good is bravery and daring if you don't work hard? What's the point of being cunning and ambitious if you don't work hard to get what you want? Why be intelligent if you don't work hard to use the knowledge? And what's wrong with loyalty? Who doesn't want loyal friends or allies? You would think they'd be treated better."

Winter and Hermione pondered that information, absorbing everything Hermione spoke up "Thanks for sharing information you guys. I was wondering about the Houses. The books I read provided the bare basics and were rather bias."

The two boys nodded and there was a beeping noise that made all of them look up "Attention Passengers. We will be arriving momentarily. Please change into your uniforms. Again we will be arriving momentarily please change into your uniforms. Thank you."

Ron and Neville both stood saying "You can change first." Before stepping outside the compartment doors which darkened so no one could see through them even as the girls watched. Hermione struggled with her trunk which Winter had helped her put up before she pulled her robes out with a slate grey skirt, dress shoes, socks, a slate grey shirt and the robe itself. She changed quickly and turned to face Winter, stopping to stare at her uniform.

While Hermione had changed into the standard uniform, Winter had pulled her dress shoes out with a pair of socks and her black dress pants. She quickly changed and attached her pouch onto the dress pants before she pulled out a nice white undershirt which she slipped on and then she pulled her back trench-coat-like robe with its white lining on the hem, sleeves and the V-neck dip and pulled it on closing it over her undershirt so only a bit of the top was visible. She was slipping her black dress shoes on when Hermione turned around spotted her outfit and asked "Where was _that_ version of the robes!? I would have gotten them if I had seen them!"

Winter looked down at her outfit, pausing as she tightened the shoes. "I designed these after I got the ok from the robe-lady in the alley."

Hermione paused "I don't suppose you can make me some of those can you? I don't like these robes or the outfit. I'd rather be in pants."

Winter looked down at her robes again pausing "I can get them made yes. Not instantly, but I can get them made."

Hermione nodded "I'll wait and wear these until then. Thank you."

"Don't worry about it." She slipped her other shoe on and waited for Hermione to put hers on before she stepped out of the compartment.

Neville and Ron stared at Winter's outfit before Neville asked "Was there a male version of your uniform Winter?"

Winter shook her head "I asked about the uniform requirements and designed mine. I can see if the lady who made mine will make some for you though. It may take a bit, but I can ask. What about you Ron?"

Neville nodded "Please" and then he slipped into the compartment leaving Ron.

"I wouldn't mind, but…" Ron trailed off and Winter felt his Magic shift uneasily and he shook his head "Don't worry about it." Then he was inside the compartment and the door was closed.

Hermione and Winter looked at each other silently as they waited for the boys to change.

A few minutes later they were let back inside the compartment where Winter realized Ron had hand-me-down robes and she understood that he had turned her down due to money. She decided then and there to get him a robe made. She understood the idea of not having money and always having hand-me-downs. She hadn't liked it and she bet Ron didn't either. She didn't make any mention or even acknowledge anything though as she sat down.

Soon enough they were pulling up to Hogwarts and Winter felt her stomach twist with a mix of excitement and nervousness. The moment she stepped onto the ground she was greeted by the yell of "Firs' Years! Firs' Years o'er here!" Ron, Neville, Hermione, and Winter all walked over to a very tall man with a wild beard and scruffy looks. He continued calling for first years for a few moments before he led them to a shore of a lake. Winter was excited to see the lake, looking forward to dancing on it during winter. "No more than four ta a boat!" the tall man called interrupting Winter's thoughts. Ron, Hermione, Winter and Neville all piled into a boat and waited.

Once everyone was settled the tall man sitting in a boat all by himself called "Is tha' ev'ry un?! Alrigh' then. FORWARD!" On his command the boats everyone was sitting in surged forward onto the lake towards the castle.

Winter caught a glimpse of white and blue off to her left and she smiled. _~Hey Jack.~_

_~Hey Winter. The castle looks awesome….I can't wait to see the inside!~_

_~We haven't seen the castle yet. We're on the- Oh my god!~_

_~Winter?~_ the excited tone disappeared form Jack's voice replaced with sharp question.

_~There's a Giant Squid in the Lake! It just waved at us and it put a boy how fell out back on his boat!~_

Jack's voice was curious _~A Giant Squid? Really?~_ Winter watched as Jack drew closer to her, scanning the dark waters of the lake. She knew when he spotted the squid because she heard his mental gasp. _~That's so neat!~_ Winter sent him feelings of agreement before she heard the large man call back

"Duck!"

She resisted the urge to yell "Where?!" and did as he asked ducking her head under a curtain of ivy. When she lifted her head her mouth dropped open and she gasped.

The castle was beautiful standing majestically on a cliff, its windows glowing invitingly. She stared at it with wide eyes calling to Jack _~You were right. It's beautiful~_

Soon enough the man brought them to the front doors of the castle and knocked. Jack was hovering over their heads, waiting for the very large doors to be opened so he could explore and tell Winter about all the hidey holes and neat things he would find. The doors were opened by a stern looking witch wearing a pointed hat. " 'ere are th' Firs' years Professor McGonagall."

The stern witch scanned over the first years telling the large man "Thank you Hagrid. I'll take them from here." She motioned all of us inside and when no one moved Winter took the first step. Ron, Hermione and Neville all followed after her and the others followed after them. Winter tried not to laugh at Jack hovering close to the second door in front of them.

McGonagall pulled her eyes away from Jack and to her when she started speaking "I need all of you to line up in two lines. When you pass through those doors I will call you up alphabetically to be sorted into either Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw House. Your house will be your family while you are here. If you are behaved you will earn your house points, if you are misbehaved you will lose your house points. I expect each of you to behave and make your parents and teachers proud." She pinned the crowd of children with her serious eyes. "Now if you will all just wait here momentarily I will see if they are ready for you." McGonagall stepped through the door and closed it too fast for Jack to slip through after her.

"So. Are you Winter Potter?" Winter turned quickly to face the blonde boy that had addressed her. He stared at the silvery-white hair that was now visible for only a moment.

"Yes. May I ask who you are?"

The boy nodded "My name is Draco Malfoy." He offered his hand to her and Winter took it, shaking his hand.

He pulled his hand away and opened his mouth to continue when the doors opened widely and McGonagall told them all "They are ready for you."

The crowd of children surged through the doors, staring at everything, and Winter watched Jack shoot through above their heads and hover there to watch what was happening.

McGonagall stepped up to a stool with a hat sitting on it. Winter watched in surprise as the hat opened its mouth, made out of a rib in the fabric, and started to sing. Once the song was over McGonagall lifted the had up and called "Abbot, Hannah." A girl skipped up to the hat and was placed in Hufflepuff where she was welcomed happily.

Winter listened only for those she knew Hermione went to Ravenclaw, Draco went to Slytherin, Neville was placed in Hufflepuff, and then it was Winter's turn. She ignored the whispers and stares and walked calmly up to the stool where she sat down and waited as the hat was placed over her head.

"_**Well isn't this interesting!"**_

Winter fought not to jerk in surprise. _"What?"_

"_**Did you know you have a natural Mind Barrier? Your mind is surrounded by blizzards. Would you mind letting it down so I can get to more than the thoughts you direct my way? All you have to do is think about it."**_

Winter obeyed and soon she was listening to soft hums of contemplation as the hat sorted through her mind. She heard him gasp suddenly as he asked her _**"By the Moon you know a Spirit?"**_

"_You mean Jack? Why does everyone call him a spirit?"_

"_**That is what he is. He is a Spirit of Winter. **__The__** Spirit of Winter. And you are a Sensor! By the moon…but it is not my place to gawk. Where to put you…You're certainly brave enough for Gryffindor…You're cunning enough for Slytherin too. You're loyal to those who earn it and your very intelligent…Hmm what's this? A thirst for knowledge… A strong one."**_

"_I want to know everything I can. Knowledge is power."_

"_**Well then…you have all the traits of the Houses…but there is only one place where you will be encouraged to learn everything. You may be what the Castle has been waiting for."**_

The entire student body shifted as the minutes passed before the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived "Better Be…..RAVENCLAW!"

The hall was silent for only a moment and then the table in blue erupted into cheers. Winter stepped off the stool and watched the white linings of her altered robes change to a navy blue, and she headed straight for Hermione who looked thrilled to see her friend was in her House.

Winter watched as Ron was sorted into Gryffindor after a few minutes under the hat and she smiled. She had a friend in every House.

This would be an interesting year.

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**I warned you I was giving Ron a major Personality overhaul so please don't complain about it. I also told you this was an AU which is why House Placement was messed with. I do have reasons for the placement as well so Yeah. Wait for it. XD**

**Also I plan to go into detail for parts of her year, and summarize others. That is my warning. Enjoy!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I got a couple reviews about how I made the children seem too old when I talked about the Houses. THANK YOU for pointing that out. I was confused, because I meant to mention where they got their information from. I didn't put it in so here it is:**

**The kids take on the Houses wasn't exactly their own. Ron was quoting his brothers, but the bit about him being annoyed with Gryffindor habit of charge first think later is all him. Neville was told by his Grandmother, but his rant on Loyalty and Hard Work was all him.**

**Does that help?**__

VOTE FOR JACK'S AND WINTER'S ANIMAGUS FORMS IN THE POLL ON MY PROFILE PLEASE! THIS IS IMPORTANT!

**I have FANART OMG: setokibas-kitten. deviantart #/d5obwcw  
If that doesn't work type in Jack Frost/ Winter Potter.  
THANK YOU AmaltheaLuchiaAizen!**

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The first week of Hogwarts was insane for Winter.

First and foremost: The _entire_ Castle was absolutely **brimming** with centuries' worth of Magic and it drove Winter's senses insane. The only good thing that came out of that was Winter learned to track specific Magic Signatures and locate them through all the Magic. She spent most of her weekends outside for this reason since even though outside still had tons of Magic it was more spaced out and not as condensed as the castle's Magic and it gave her a break.

One top of that she had to deal with an obviously semi-sentient castle that enjoyed messing with students' minds. She ended up getting lost a few times thanks to the staircases moving and changing directions on her while she was on them. The hallways themselves were mazes waiting to be solved and some doors didn't lead to rooms, but to entirely different hallways. Winter had also discovered a couple different secret passageways thanks to a misstep or leaning on the wrong section of the wall. On top of all that some of the stairs were 'trick stairs' and Winter had seen another student end up stuck in the stair up to his knees.

Winter also figured out that Dumbledore gave her the creeps, Snape was made uncomfortable by her presence though he didn't hate her or treat her unfairly just rather stiffly, like he didn't know what to make of her, none of the teachers were very helpful with the student rivalry, she was the first person any of the students had seen that had formed and was managing to maintain budding friendships with someone outside her own House.

Winter was also almost positive McGonagall could see Jack, though she never outright said anything.

Speaking of Jack, he had been pleasantly surprised to discover he could come and go to Hogwarts since the castle seemed to know he needed to be cold and made the area surrounding him cold enough for him to be comfortable. Jack still left to bring winter where it was needed, but he made a habit of coming back to Hogwarts when he was finished. The school stopped Jack from keeping anything frozen, frosted, or snowing unless he actually frosted, froze or made it snow with the intent for it to stay.

Jack had figured this out when Winter had told him her bed was too hot and he had fixed the issue by lightly frosting the sheets, blanket, and pillows with the intent to keep them that way so Winter wouldn't wake up in melted ice water. When Winter had woke up the next morning she had cheerfully discovered that the frost was still on her bed.

Jack had also discovered almost everyone in the castle couldn't see him with the exception of the stern looking lady that had sorted Winter- McGonagall Jack thought her name was- and he wasn't quite sure why, but she never stopped him from wondering the castle nor did she point him out to anyone. One morning while Winter was at breakfast he had flew around a corner without looking- he had thought everyone was already in the Great Hall for breakfast- and almost run right into her. She had actually taken a few steps back with startled eyes focused on his, and then she had hurried around him for the Hall. It may have been the cold winds following him, but Jack was sure she had seen him and stumbled backwards due to that.

On top of discovering McGonagall could possibly-maybe see him, he had discovered quite a few shortcuts and secret passageways. Jack had actually discovered more than anyone else since he could feel the wind currents coming from places where they shouldn't. Jack liked the castle. It was always changing and offering new things to find so Jack was never bored while Winter was in her classes. He had showed all of the shortcuts and secret passageways to Winter at the very first opportunity so she was one of the first people to get to her classes and the Great Hall even when she left after some people. Winter and Jack thought their faces were funny when they walked into their next class to find Winter sitting in her seat like she had always been there.

Winter decided she liked her schedule. Each class has fifteen minutes between them so everyone has a chance to get from one place to another and there was a free period of at least an hour and a half every day with the weekends off. If she managed her time carefully she was able to finish up all homework she was assigned and use the rest of her day and the weekends purely for whatever she liked. So far she had managed to pull it off.

Winter had a habit of switching tables during breakfast, lunch, and dinner so she had a chance to sit with all her friends. As long as there wasn't some kind of special occasion Winter was allowed to sit wherever she wanted and she dragged Hermione with her. Neville seemed to be flourishing in the Hufflepuff House so far, surrounded by loyal hardworking people. He also seemed very excited to see that his Head of House was the Herbology Professor. Winter could tell she loved plants almost as much as Neville. Her Magic was Earthy brown tones that left Winter feeling comfortable and with the impression that Professor Sprout would be quick to rise to her Badgers protection as well as those that needed it.

Ron was doing well in the Gryffindor House. He had made friends with his dorm mates and spent the times that Winter was visiting the other tables to talk to them. He had told her that the people in his House weren't that bad, but really needed to improve on hiding their emotions and thinking through their anger. He had witnessed a few fights in his dorms that could have been avoided if the people had thought before throwing a punch and Winter could tell it annoyed Ron just as much as the idea had on the train.

Draco was a bit of a spoiled brat that had a habit of assuming everyone should ask 'how high?' when he said 'Jump'. Winter found that annoying, but Draco wasn't that bad if you managed to show him you weren't going to take that at all and he had better not try it. Winter could feel his Magic and it left her with the impression of a cat. It would fiercely protect what it viewed as its own, but the person wouldn't even know the cat was protective until the cat was standing in from of them puffed up and hissing lashing out with claws or fangs when the warning was ignored and at any other time the cat acted as if it was better than everyone else stalking through the halls as if it owned them showing very few people that it viewed them as tolerable.

It was a Monday and Winter was sitting at the Hufflepuff table with Neville eating breakfast and discussing the Herbology Essay they had worked on together the previous weekend with Hermione, Ron, and Draco. Breakfast was just about to finish so Winter stood and started walking out the Great Hall doors, ignoring Dumbledore's eyes boring into her back, heading for the Charms classroom. She fought the urge to smile when she noticed all her friends had gathered around her and a few smart first years had gotten up to follow her towards the classroom. She told her friends how to get to their classrooms while Hermione, Neville and herself slipped into the Charms Classroom for the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff Charms Class.

Professor Flitwick was an older looking half-goblin short man that Winter enjoyed learning from. He was a very hyper man that got very excited when he had first noticed she was in his class. So excited in fact, that he had fallen off the stack of books he was using to see over his podium before getting up and slipping into what Winter assumed was the Goblin Language in his excitement. Winter was interested in learning that particular language and wondered if he would teach it to her.

As soon as she was in the Charms Classroom she grabbed a seat close to the front where Hermione slipped into the seat next to her on her left and Neville grabbed the seat on her right. side. Winter was excited for this class since they were finally going to do some practical Charms work with the _Wingardium Leviosa _Charm which allowed the user to levitate objects, but not people. A person is able to hover in the air, but it is actually their clothes that are charmed rather than the person themselves. Soon enough everyone was inside the classroom and role had been called leaving Professor Flitwick to demonstrate and do a quick recap.

"Is everyone paying attention? Everyone? Alright then. When preforming this charm the hand motion is 'swish and flick.' Everyone pick up your wands! No saying the charms but on the count of three I want to see everyone try the hand movement. One, two…three! Swish and Flick!" The entire class lifted their wands and practiced the movement together. Flitwick corrected a few students before continuing. "Alright then. Wands down while we practice the incantation!" he waited for the class' wands to be lowered before continuing "Wingardium Leviosa! Now you try." He corrected a few students pronunciation, and then nodded. "Each of you have a feather sitting in front of you, I want all of you to attempt to get the feather floating. I don't expect all of you to get this on the first try, or even the second or third, but I do expect you to try and I am here to help you so ask if you have questions."

The students turned to their feathers and Winter pondered momentarily. She had seen Professor Flitwick's Magic manipulate the feather into moving around in the air at its users command and she thought she could get this on the first try. It wasn't a very complicated charm so Winter lifted her light grey wand up and whispered "Wingardium Leviosa!" mimicking the proper hand motion. She watched her feather twitch and come up off the table after a moment.

Winter grinned. She had gotten the feather moving like it was supposed to, and that was good. She knew she hadn't mastered the charm since she had seen the Professor's feather respond immediately to his command almost before he had even finished the incantation so she would have to practice. Seconds after her feather floated into the air she heard Flitwick exclaim "Oh Well done! Well done Miss Potter! Ten points to Ravenclaw!" another moment and Hermione had her feather up in the air next to Winter's and she thought the Professor was going to vibrate right off his stack of books in excitement. "Another ten points to Ravenclaw! Well done Miss Granger!"

Hermione and Winter lowered their feathers back to the table and turned to help Neville and the other classmates that were watching them levitate their feathers. The girls spent the rest of the Charms class alternating between preforming the charm again and helping Neville preform the charm as well as a few other classmates.

Winter noticed that Neville's magic seemed almost reluctant to channel through his wand and didn't understand why. If that was his wand then his Magic and the Magic of the wand should synch together perfectly, but that wasn't happening leaving Winter with the conclusion that the wand he was using wasn't his own. She brought it up to him as they were leaving the Charms Classroom and he told her the wand he was using had been his Father's wand. She had told him that he needed his own wand that the Wand chose the Wizard and though the wand was working for him it was preventing him from reaching his potential. Neville walked away looking thoughtful and Winter smiled as she turned to head for her next class which was History of Magic with Ron. That meant Hermione and herself were going to have to teach themselves and Ron plus whoever else was listening since Professor Binns didn't teach anything at all and only repeated lectures on the Goblin Rebellions.

She had that class from 11:00am- 12:00pm and then she would have lunch. She was happy about that since she was pretty hungry from using her Magic to perform tasks throughout the day. Once she arrived in the classroom she sat in the back where Hermione and Ron were quick to join her as well as most of the class. Once the other Ravenclaws and Gryffindors had figured out Winter and Hermione were willing to teach them what they should be learning the Ravenclaws had settled on a 'trade-off' schedule that allowed them all the chance of teaching and learning so Winter and Hermione didn't have to do all the teaching and the Gryffindors had been split between thankful and others who just wanted to use the class to sleep. Today was Hermione's turn to teach so Winter pulled out paper and pens to take notes, She only used parchment and quills on tests and assignments where they were required.

The class passed quickly and everyone scrambled for the Great Hall excited at the prospect of lunch. Ron and Hermione were the only two to wait and with a smirk of amusement she lead them both through a secret passageway Jack had showed her that allowed them to be among the first students to arrive in the Great Hall. As soon as they arrived Ron headed for the Gryffindor table while Hermione and Winter sat down at the Slytherin table to wait for Draco. None of the students had said a word against Winter and Hermione migrating tables after the first couple of people ended up with frozen trousers or underwear and, if they were particularly rude, a slushy mess of ice in their beds.. Everyone knew Winter had something to do with the incidents, but no one could prove anything.

Jack had taken to defending his friend after the first couple of insults were hurled and started freezing underwear, trousers, and leaving slushy ice in the beds of people who tried to run her off from their tables depending on how rude they were in their demands. No one ever got physical since she was in the Great Hall in front of all the teachers and no one was that stupid.

Draco's eyes lit up when he spotted the two girls sitting at the table though his face never changed from its impassive mask. He sat himself down across from them with Crabbe and Goyle sitting on either side of him. Blaise Zabini was the only other Slytherin that say near the group, choosing to sit next to Hermione. Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle as well as quite a few other Slytherins and even a couple Ravenclaws had learned to never use the word 'Mud-blood' in front of Winter since the first time it happened after she found out what it meant she had pranked the person that said it for three days every time she heard the word leave the girl's mouth. It was another case of everyone knowing Winter was responsible, but being unable to prove it. After the hour lunch Winter left with the Slytherins trailing after Hermione and herself on the way to her Transfiguration Class.

They were the first to arrive settled in for their first practical use of Transfiguration, which would be turning a needle into a matchstick and back. The first week had been spent on theory and discussion of the dangers and uses of it so Winter was excited. When the class actually started and they were allowed to attempt the transfiguration, Hermione was the first to succeed and coached Winter and Draco through the process where all three sat there switching the matchstick and the needle back and forth trying to speed up the changing speed.

After the Transfigurations class Winter was headed for Defense Against the Dark Arts which was another class with the Hufflepuffs and another class that Winter and Hermione had to teach themselves and the others or fail the class since Professor Quirrell stuttered so much no one could understand anything. Winter really didn't like the man. Something was _wrong_ with his Magic. It made her head throb and stomach twist. She didn't know what it was, but her instincts told her he was _really_ bad news, and Winter had learned at a very early age- back with the Dursleys- to trust her instincts since they had saved her quite a few extra beatings. As a result she was wary around him and warned her friends that she had a bad feeling about him

Once she had managed to work her way through that class she had an hour and a half of free time before dinner. Usually she would use this time to hang out with Jack and slip into the Library with Ron, Hermione, Draco and Neville so they could work together to finish their homework, but Jack would be spending the week in America.

The week passed with each of her classes working on the Charm and Transfiguration they had learned and reading into the next chapters in the books for History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Winter had taken to practicing the spells she learned in the DADA book with her group of friends where they could.

Since Jack was in America for the week Winter had to entertain herself when she wasn't doing homework. This lead to her meeting and befriending the gentle giant Hagrid who she learned had a habit of talking first thinking directly afterwards. She enjoyed the man's company and his tea was ok, but she made a mental note to always eat before she arrived if she was hungry. On top of Hagrid Winter had been introduced to as set of twins named Fred and George by Ron.

Winter enjoyed their mischievous nature and had taken to comparing pranks ideas. She had a feeling the two of them would get along great with Jack and made a mental note to introduce them later on. She enjoyed messing with the twins since she could tell the two of them apart through their Magic. Fred and George both felt mischievous and playful with a hint of dangerous, but Fred felt more forward then George so she used the ability to tell them apart to mess with them a bit. Ron, Fred, George and everyone that had seen her tell the two of them apart again and again were amazed that she knew every time, even when the twins denied being the twin she named and tried to confuse her.

There was only one problem Winter was having. Winter was a very curious person as a result of her personality and the Dursleys. She had figured out when she was younger the more she knew the less the Dursleys had to hit or punish her for leading to her view of 'knowledge is power'. It helped that she enjoyed reading and learning and as a result she made a habit of learning everything she could.

She wanted to know what was in that Third Floor Corridor.

It was obvious to her Dumbledore wanted someone to go there. Why else would he _announce_ to every student in the school _not_ to go somewhere? He looked very old and Winter could feel the cunning and greed in his Magic. He _knew_ what would happen if he announced it to a castle full of children. He had to know someone- probably more than one child- was going to look into the corridor.

That lead her to the conclusion that no one would be able to enter the corridor except whomever Dumbledore wanted to go in, and possibly whoever was with that person.

That conclusion was the only thing that had stopped her from checking out the corridor. If she _was_ by chance the person meant to go into the corridor she wanted to be prepared, she wanted Jack, and possibly a few others, with her so she didn't rush head long into a trap by herself with no help, and she wanted _information_ most of all so she knew what she was getting into.

Winter had two things to do: wait for Jack and Research.

She _would_ know what was in that corridor.

First, however, she was going to find out whatever she could starting with Hagrid. The half-giant lived on Hogwarts grounds and was rather loyal to Dumbledore so he had to know something, and as she had discovered if you asked him the right questions he would give the answers before realizing what he had done.

Winter started plotting.

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**Ok Again: VOTE ON THE POLL THAT IS ON MY PROFILE FOR JACK'S AND WINTER'S OFFICIAL ANIMAGUS FORMS**

**(Some of you read my Guardian of Magic Oneshots and know the 2****nd**** chapter has the two of them in Animagus Forms- This is **_**not**_** official! That is just was my 200****th**** reviewer wanted to see!)**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am almost at 300 reviews…Good Lord…I didn't expect this when I first posted my story, but thank you all so, **so** much! You're all the best fans in the world! **

**I am messing with the timeline here. Heads up!**

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It took a few weeks for Winter to even know where to start looking. She couldn't even ask Hagrid at first because she didn't know _what_ to ask about. As luck would have it, she got her first clue in Hagrid's hut when she looked over and asked about the front page article on the Daily Prophet claiming someone had attempted to steal from Gringotts Bank, but the targeted vault had been emptied earlier that same day by someone.

Hagrid had let slip that it was 'Official Hogwarts Business that was between Albus Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel' before repeating multiple times 'I shouldn't have told you that. I should _not_ have told you that'.

Winter was a very smart girl.

The moment she had heard the name Nicholas Flamel she remembered reading about his work with Alchemy on the back of Albus Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card. She spent another ten minutes with Hagrid before she bid him farewell and slipped out towards the castle. She could sense Jack somewhere to her left in the Forbidden Forest and wondered what he was doing, but since he wasn't in pain or danger-that she could sense- she headed for the library.

As soon as she stepped inside she started searching the books for any mention of Alchemy or Nicholas Flamel.

Winter was guessing whatever was in that corridor had something to do with Nicholas Flamel since shortly after announcing _not_ to go into a corridor or you'd die, a vault in Gringotts is robbed and she finds out Dumbledore and Flamel are involved.

Winter didn't believe in coincidences.

Hermione walked into the library an hour later calling softly "There you are Winter! What are you doing?"

Winter answered, still skimming the text she was looking at "I'm researching."

"What are you researching?"

"Nicholas Flamel. You want to help me out?"

Hermione was never one to turn down the opportunity to learn, and her friend was asking for her help, so she gave the only answer she could. "Of course. What have you checked so far?"

Winter looked up long enough to gesture towards the books she had read "I've done that section. I still have to work my way through all these plus the forbidden section. We'll see if I can talk Professor Flitwick into writing me a pass in there. Or a pass for the both of us if we can't find anything."

"Sounds good." Hermione sat down and reached for a book.

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Winter stayed in the library with Hermione until lunch at which point she dragged Hermione away from the books, Winter had been denied food too many times to ever miss a meal she could eat, so even lost in the research Winter was able to pull herself away for food.

Hermione was willing to follow her once she realized how hungry she actually was, and the two of them slipped into the Great Hall and headed for the Slytherin Table. For the first ten minutes, Winter enjoyed chatting with her friends and eating whatever she wanted, but it wasn't meant to last.

With her track record, Winter should have known something was going to go wrong.

_~WINTER!~_ Jack's voice was loud, unexpected and scared.

Winter jerked in her seat and got to her feet shakily she blurted out an excuse and rushed from the Great Hall, headed for the closest exit that no one would see her leave out of.

The moment she was outside the walls she rushed reached for Jack's Magic and rushed for him, pulling out her wand and preparing herself for anything.

When she actually got there, Winter realized she hadn't prepared herself for what she actually found.

Jack was standing next to a bleeding unicorn foal.

Winter took in the scene with horror.

Unicorns were pure innocent magical beings, especially foals. Winter couldn't imagine anything that would willingly kill one. Jack was kneeling next to the foal with his hands pressed against the injury trying to stop the bleeding. The moment he saw her she felt the rush of relief in his Magic and saw it in his eyes. "Winter!" he called her name in a pleading tone and she rushed forward.

The foal jerked, frightened and Winter fought to control her emotions before sending a stream of protective comforting Magic into the blindingly pure aura of Magic surrounding the foal. For a moment the foal continued its attempts to get up and move away before it slowly relaxed and turned its bright silver eyes onto her.

As soon as Winter was sure the foal wouldn't hurt himself in his attempts to escape her touch Winter quickly summoned her Magic and gave it a command _"Heal. Mend. Fix."_ There was no other option for her.

This was a baby unicorn. An innocent pure creature that didn't deserve to die this way. A baby unicorn that Jack had asked her to save by summoning her to his side.

Failure was not an option.

She felt her Magic surge forward in response to the familiar command- one she had used on herself many times after a run in with her Uncle- and flow down into the foal. At first the foal's Magic fought the foreign Magic before is seemed to realize Winter was trying to help at which point the foal's Magic began guiding Winter's Healing Magic for the best and quickest results. Winter worked tirelessly to fix all the damage that had been done, and when her Magic began to flag Jack lent her his. With the added Magic she managed to heal the wound and the foal worked his way up to his feet while Winter sort of collapsed backwards where Jack caught her.

It was at this moment that Winter and Jack realized they had an audience.

A very large audience.

The foal that they had healed gave a happy whicker before he pranced forward and nuzzled the chest of a female Unicorn who nuzzled him back and let out happy little nickers of joy.

Winter felt a little dizzy with all the Pure Magic the Blessing of Unicorns was emitting and was glad Jack was holding her up, because she was sure she would have collapsed if he hadn't been.

Winter and Jack both turned to walk away from the Blessing, but were stopped by the unicorns blocking their path. Both of them paused and scanned the different unicorns surrounding them, curious but not afraid.

Their silent question was answered when the foal they had healed and helped together walked in front of them with a mare and a stallion on either side of him. The two grown unicorns pinned them with twin stares before both walked forward and stopped so close their breath blew Jack's and Winter's hair back from their faces.

Jack and Winter barely dared to breathe as the stallion lowered his head and butted his nose into Jack's chest at the same time that the mare lowered her head and butted her nose against Winter's.

The moment the contact was made Winter felt a swell in the Blessing's Magic and she gasped and staggered blindly reaching out and catching herself on the mare's shoulder since Jack had released her.

Winter and Jack were floored as the deep power filled voice of the stallion spoke to their minds _"Thank you. I am Flamehoof and this is my Blessing and my mate Skyfire. We owe the both of you a debt."_ The shock only grew as Flamehoof lowered his head in a bow which was quickly mimicked by the other unicorns that were surrounding them.

"B-but…why?" Jack managed to voice the question Winter was thinking.

"_The two of you have saved our foal Stormheart. We thought we had lost him to the Dark One."_

Winter stuttered a bit as she responded "But…We did the right thing. You don't owe us anything."

Skyfire was the next to respond her soft voice sounding in their minds like wind chimes. _"None the less Bright Ones, we feel that we owe you a debt."_

Winter and Jack weren't sure how to respond to that. If the unicorns felt that they owed a debt to the two of them nothing withier said would change their mind.

Flamehoof pinned them both with the bright silver eyes his foal had inherited as he spoke his voice rushing over them like powerful waves and Winter felt the Magic of the Blessing surge and swell before enveloping the both of them _"All who dwell in this forest shall know you as friends to my Blessing. They shall know you as friend to the unicorns of the forest, and they shall know you are under my protection. You are always welcomed among my Blessing."_ It was here that Flamehoof lowered his head and carefully touched his horn first to Jack's heart and then to Winter's.

Winter had to steady herself again using Flamehoof's shoulder as she felt the Magic of the Blessing settle permanently on Jack and herself and then Skyfire was the next to speak. _"Next I offer you this. If ever you find yourself in need of Unicorn blood, hair, or horn it is yours if you ask it willingly given. If ever you have need of us all you have to do is call and we will hear you and come."_

Winter and Jack were both floored with the privileges they had been given as a result of doing the right thing and saving an injured unicorn foal.

They glanced at each other and saw the same completely floored look on each other's faces, but despite the shock the two of them remembered their manners and chorused "Thank you." They really didn't know what else to say to that.

Flamehoof and Skyfire both nodded and chorused back _"And thank you for saving Stormheart."_

Skyfire nudged the little foal who in response moved forward and nuzzled first Jack's stomach then Winter's in a thank you of his own before Skyfire trotted over _"He is not yet old enough to create a link to have mental conversations over. Come. I will escort the two of you to the forest edge so you may return to the castle."_

Jack and Winter both trailed after the large mare following her towards the Forbidden Forest's edge where she stopped and watched the two of them leave headed for the same entrance Winter had used to leave undetected and they slipped in without being spotted. Winter headed for the kitchens-which Jack had discovered when the Weasley Twins had slipped inside while he was behind them- since she had left near the beginning of lunch and she was still hungry silently glad it was the weekend.

She managed to get inside and get a large bowl of fruit and some made-from-scratch bread from them before she slipped out and shared her food with Jack.

Jack waited until Winter offered him the bowl before touching the food, knowing she tended to react badly if her food was taken without her permission as a left over reaction from the Dursleys.

The two of them silently enjoyed the late lunch before Jack followed Winter into the library where Winter found all of her friends waiting for her. Jack motioned her off as he slipped into the stacks of books to enjoy them. As an added bonus no one even did a double take when they saw a book hovering midair and seemingly being read by nothing when they couldn't see Jack so he could read out in the open or in a chair without a care.

Winter slipped into the only open chair at the table of her friends as Jack slipped into the stacks of books and waited. Hermione was the first to break the silence "What happened Winter? You just…took off."

Winter had thought of an excuse before arriving and she gave if easily "I wasn't feeling well. I rushed off when I thought I was going to throw up. I'm sorry I worried you guys. I spent a few minutes in the bathroom, and then I went outside for some fresh air. It helped since I don't feel nauseous anymore."

Hermione pinned her with a searching look before nodding "Next time tell me why you're rushing off don't just something like 'I have to go I'll be back' and then disappear for hours."

Winter nodded "I will." She meant it. Winter didn't like disappointing people she considered important to herself, and she resolved to tell Hermione what she was doing if she could.

Once Winter managed to calm all her friends and convince them she was fine, she asked them if they knew anything about alchemy.

She got a 'no' from everyone, except Draco, but all he knew was Flamel was an important figure who had something to do with Dragon's Blood and its uses, so he didn't really help her much, though Winter thanked him anyway.

This search would continue until it approached Christmas.

Winter Hermione and occasionally one of the others didn't find anything more as they searched leaving only the forbidden section available. As the winter Holidays approached Winter and Hermione stopped searching for answers and enjoyed the snow that Jack was leaving thickly on the ground finding time to shop for gifts as well. When Winter was asked if she would be staying over the break at the castle she answered 'No'.

Jack had told her he had plans for her, and she was looking forward to them.

As a result she received a few of her gifts early so she'd get them before she left, and she opened them early as well so she could thank her friends in person, giving them their presents as well.

Ron had gotten her a supply of candy after discovering her sweet tooth-which she placed in her pouch for easy access- Hermione, Neville and Draco all got her books. Hermione got her the Lord of the Rings series while Neville had gotten her a book on Magical Plants while Draco had gotten her a book on Rare Magic. All of them were placed in her pouch.

Winter had gotten Ron a poster of the Cannons team he liked and had it Autographed- he had tackled her in a hug after gaping for a full minute- Hermione had received a couple of rare books on Wizarding World Traditions- she had been thrilled to learn more about this new world she was a part of-Neville had received a fully stocked Magical Plant Care Kit with a few seeds- he had hugged her and promised to explain the plants to her later- while Draco had received a book on recent nonmagical discoveries with Winter's hand written explanations in the margins and a large supply of normal nonmagical candies- he had actually been excited to get the book since Winter and Hermione had been correcting his previous views on the nonmagical people and explaining some of the discoveries to him. The look on his face when he discovered nonmagical people had been walking on the moon still brought a smile to Winter's face.

Winter had also received an Invisibility Cloak from an unnamed sender, but Winter had sensed Dumbledore's Magic on the cloak and had wiped it of all spells before she even touched the cloak. She had been excited to discover the cloak had belonged to her father, but it left her wondering why Dumbledore had such a potentially useful thing in his possession since it could have saved her parents' lives. The cloak had been put into her pouch as well along with anything Winter had pulled out during her stay at Hogwarts.

All that was left now was leaving with Jack in the morning and whatever surprise plans he had waiting for her.

She couldn't wait.

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**Remember that detention where Harry sees Voldemort drinking Unicorn Blood? Well I don't plan on Winter getting the detention so I replaced that scene with the foal scene.**

**And the whole Blessing scene? **

_**MAJOR importance later when she becomes a Guardian so PLEASE don't complain okay? **_**Even Jack ties in later it wasn't random I promise. For those who don't know a group of Unicorns is called a Blessing.**

**It's late, but Merry Christmas everyone, and it's early, but Happy New Year! I'm sorry for any mistakes, it is currently 5 am over here and I am tired (My insomnia was acting up and now I feel the crash approaching.)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Over…300….Reviews…You're all amazing. The poll results are in! Jack will be an Arctic Wolf while Winter will be an Arctic Fox. This would have been out sooner but I was house/pet sitting for a family member who has no internet for a little over a week.**

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When Winter woke up that morning she panicked a little.

The very first thing she noticed was she wasn't in her bed, and someone had her in their arms. She stayed completely still and kept her breathing even before her Magical Sense registered that Jack was the one holding her, at which point she relaxed and opened her eyes. "Jack."

"Yeah?" he shifted his grip holding her bridal style with the hand under her legs gripping his staff.

"Where are we?"

Jack grinned as he answered "Well, I was really excited to take you to your surprise, but you were sleeping and I realized you would realize where we were going if I took you while you were aware so I got you while you were sleeping and here we are…Welcome to Paris, France."

Winter's eyes opened wide. He was taking her to _Paris?_ She smiled widely at him and tightened her arms around his neck in the only hug she could give him while he was holding her bridal style and flying as she exclaimed happily "Thank you Jack!"

He grinned "I thought you might like that, but this isn't our only stop you know. You're traveling Air Frost this winter and we have quite a few stops to make."

Winter's eyes opened a little wider _"There's more?!"_ her face broke out into a wonder filled excited grin. She had a great feeling about this.

"Winter" Jack's voice broke through her excited daze and she looked at him "Look." He nodded his head in front of them and Winter turned her head to see.

Her breath caught in her throat and she was breathless with wonder as she stared at the sight in front of her.

Jack had been working before she woke up, and even before Winter had left Hogwarts, but despite the work, watching Winter's face made him grin.

Winter was staring at a frost-coated Eiffel Tower surrounded by piles of untouched snow and trees that had snow gathered up on their branches with awe. It was beautiful. She slowly scanned the surrounding areas and followed the Eiffel Tower up with her eyes.

"Jack…" Winter didn't know how to continue that sentence. She felt a little overwhelmed and everything was so beautiful…but Jack seemed to hear everything she couldn't say and grinned.

"You're welcome."

Winter smiled and Jack flew them higher up to the very top of the tower where he carefully perched without setting Winter down. "I was here when this was being built you know." He told her.

Winter's eyes snapped up to his as he continued "I wasn't here for the whole thing obviously, but it took the workers and the man who designed the tower- Gustave Eiffel- two years to build the tower. Each of the 12,000 pieces were created separately so everything fit together perfectly with the use of over seven million nails. The tower was only supposed to stay up for the duration of the 1889 World Exhibition, and I remember a lot of people wanted to take it down after the Exhibition was over. Some people thought the Eiffel Tower wouldn't fit into the architecture of Paris and the contemporary artists of the time feared that the tower would cause a major shift in the art world and cause the arrival of art without 'individuality'. Obviously that didn't happen, and now the tower still stands today as a symbol of the City of Lights." He glanced down at Winter who was switching between staring down at the tower and Jack's face.

There was silence for only a moment before Winter's eyes sparked with curiosity and wonder as she asked "What else do you know about Paris?"

Jack grinned and the wind swirled around them as it lifted them from the tower "Well I guess I'll have to show you." He mimicked a tour guide as he told her "Welcome to Frost Tours, my name is Jack Frost and I'll be your guide for today."

Winter laughed as Jack took off through the air towards their next destination pointing out interesting things along the way before he stopped over a huge cathedral. "Welcome to Notre Dame. I wasn't here for this one being built but I know some facts about it thanks to regular visits. This building took almost 200 years to be built. It was destroyed during the Revolution and wasn't restored until the 19th century." Jack continued to explain the architecture and even showed her a bronze plate in the pavement called 'Point Zero' where all distance miles in France are measured from Paris. Winter got to place the toe of her shoes on the plaque and rotate around it 360 degrees as was the tradition.

She giggled and ran through the snow afterwards starting a snowball fight with Jack in front of the Cathedral. After a while Jack called her over and they continued their tour to all kinds of places that Jack knew a little about from multiple visits.

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Once night had fallen Jack brought Winter towards the river that was near Moulin Rouge. He set her down lightly once he was sure the entire river was thick enough.

Winter glanced at him curiously and he grinned bowing lightly "May I have this dance?"

Winter's face lit up and she curtsied back "You may"

Jack laughed as he began the steps of the very first dance they had shared and Winter's smile grew when she realized what he was dancing, before she followed his lead. _"It's an odd thought when I realize the _spirit_ of winter is dancing the dance that is choreographed to winter's song."_

She began humming the tune she heard in the air on the Magic aloud to share the music with Jack. He looked up from his feet to glance at her face before smiling.

The music seemed to resonate with him and he glanced up towards the full moon- which seemed to be shining extra brightly- and mouthed the words "Thank you." He may have imagined it, but Jack thought the moon may have shined a little brighter at him.

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Winter ended up falling asleep against a tree after everything they did so Jack picked her up and moved into the branches. He didn't want a well-meaning person to take Winter somewhere while he slept and he settled in the branch next to her and closed his eyes. He planned to wake up before Winter to head for their next stop. He grinned. Winter would be excited.

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The next time Winter opened her eyes, she found herself in Jack's arms again, heading for an unknown destination. She grinned "Can I ask where we're going this time?"

"Nope. Surprise. We'll be there in about…thirty minutes."

Winter nodded. "Thought so." She relaxed and watched passing clouds fir the next two minutes then she looked over at Jack. "Can I get a hint?"

Jack laughed "You'll like it."

Winter snorted. "Thanks Jack. That helped."

Jack snickered "I aim to please."

Winter shook her head and they spent the next thirty minutes chatting about anything that came to their minds until Jack began to descend to the ground. As soon as he was low enough for Winter to see her surroundings her mouth dropped open before a huge smile spread over her face "You took me to Japan?!"

Jack nodded "I remember you saying you wanted to visit."

Winter hugged him and took off with a happy whoop. Jack trailed after her with a smile. Jack enjoyed Japan during the winter months. They got creative. He knew they had an Ice Village, lots of festivals that had ice sculpting competitions, and sports like bamboo skiing, snow rafting, and a 12 meter long ice slide on top of dog sledding, and snow tubing.

Jack planned to take Winter through it all.

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Winter was taken to the festivals first, and Jack showed her the ice sculptures comparing them to past sculptures as he went. Jack even told her little tips about ice sculpting. Winter was thrilled to be walking around and taking in the sights of Japan asking Jack all kinds of questions and she was thrilled that he knew most of the answers.

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Snow tubing lead to an adventure as Jack took her all over the place. She actually ended up crashing into a snowdrift at the end, but she had too much fun to care and just laughed. She even managed to shakily reply to the concerned people asking if she was ok that she was fine in Japanese. It was accented and a little choppy thanks to her laughter and her inexperience but she managed.

Snow rafting was fun too. She was pulled downhill by a snowmobile in a raft and she enjoyed the speed. She even came up off the ground once or twice.

Winter found she enjoyed snowboarding a lot more than skiing anyway. She had almost ended up doing a split while she went skiing. Jack flew beside her as she flew down the slopes on the board letting out excited whoops as she zigzagged between trees and flew through the air. A couple of times Jack would either speed her up using the snow or he'd send her around a tree or rock she had missed.

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The next activity Jack brought her to do was dogsledding. Winter was a bit surprised about how fast the dogs could actually go. The scenery had been beautiful. It wouldn't have been out of place on a postcard or a snow globe. She had told Jack afterwards he had outdone himself, and Jack had grinned.

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The last activity Jack had taken her to before Christmas was the huge ice slide which Winter had enjoyed very much. Afterwards he had taken her through some of the close by festivals and then they had slipped into the forest.

Jack had stayed up after Winter had fallen asleep and set up everything for Christmas Day. He had made a promise after all.

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Winter woke up to find Jack sitting up and awake on his branch waiting for her. As soon as Jack knew she was awake he grinned "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Jack."

"Well lets go." He reached down and Winter took his hand.

Jack flew them down to a nearby lake. He started leading her into a dance. He used the moves Winter had taught him but the dance was different then winter's dance. None the less Winter let him lead her with a wide smile, making a mental note to teach Jack different dance moves so he could expand his dancing.

Once that was done he lead her over to a large piece of wood and with a grin Winter settled down onto it and waited. After Jack was sure she was settled the makeshift sled shot forward as Jack guided it carefully through the trees. He brought it to a stop in a large clearing in front of a large Douglas Fir and Winter stared at it in surprise "Where did you…?"

"Where'd I get it? You remember when you gave me permission to get into your pouch whenever I wanted?"

Winter nodded.

"Well I kind of…put the tree in while you weren't looking since I knew Japan really doesn't have them and I pulled it out when you were sleeping." He shrugged.

Winter stared at him then at her pouch then at him again before laughing "Well alright then! What're we waiting for? We have a tree to decorate."

Jack grinned and grabbed an ice box full of ornaments Jack had made the previous night. As Winter looked at them she smiled. Jack had made the ornaments mythical animals this time. She could see detailed copies of dragons, fairies, pixies, centaurs, phoenixes, Pegasus, hippogriffs, griffins, she even saw a few sphinxes and the giant squid.

"They're so pretty…" Winter lightly dragged her finger over the extended wing of a dragon.

"Thanks. I figured since this is your first year in the Magical World I should make the ornaments reflect the year."

Winter turned back to the tree and moved towards the back side and gasped "Oh!"

Jack walked over to her and spotted what made her gasp. North had left presents. There were four sitting there in the snow addressed to Winter. A fifth lay in a shallow box unwrapped. It was ice blue garland and Winter grabbed it and handed one end to Jack with a grin. They decorated the tree quickly and just as Jack had said the year before he put the star on the top.

Winter opened her gift from North first discovering a music player and a note. She opened the note first and found North's messy handwriting.

_Winter._

_I know you are in Hogwarts and electronics usually don't work, but I tweaked design. This one will work inside magic._

_Merry Christmas_

_North_

Winter grinned. She had missed music. The gifts from Sandy, Bunny, and Tooth were all homemade CDs with music they thought she'd enjoy with a note in their handwriting inside the case. Sandy had given her a CD of soft lullaby-like music, Tooth had given her a CD of upbeat happy music, and Bunny had given her a mix of dance music.

Once she had placed each gift into her pouch she turned to Jack with a smile. He held out a small box wrapped in blue and she opened it happily. She found a silver charm bracelet with three charms (A Shepard Staff that looked like Jack's, a snowflake, and a dragon) already on the chain. She hugged Jack and reached into her pouch pulling out a small box wrapped in silver which she held out to him.

Jack took it carefully and unwrapped it to find a thin cord of brown leather holding a flat disc of onyx with a snowflake on the back and a Shepard's Staff on the front. There were runes carved along the edge of the circular disc on both sides. He looked up at Winter with slightly wide eyes.

Winter shrugged "I made it. I may have used magic to power the runes and flatten the onyx, but I carved it myself and enhanced the leather cord so it won't break or come off unless you remove it."

Jack smiled at her and slipped the cord over his head. The onyx stopped just above his heart.

Winter let him enjoy the gift for a few minutes before she threw a snowball at his face and ran. They spent the rest of the day playing in the snow and making sculptures out of the snow.

Jack took her back to the Hogwarts Express so Winter could have a chance to catch up with her friends and told her "I've gotta head to America for a bit, so I'll let you know when I'm coming back." He tapped his head to let her know he meant over the bond "Try not to get into too much trouble okay?"

"I'll try." She promised and then she slipped into the train and found the compartment she had used on the way to Hogwarts which she quickly slipped into and waited reading the second book on the Lord of the Rings series.

Winter only put the book away when her friends started piling into the compartment. They spent the entire ride back comparing holidays and just catching up.

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**Ok Just so everyone knows I have NEVER BEEN to any of these places I mentioned. What I found out I found through internet, so if I'm wrong somewhere I'm sorry. I hoped you enjoyed! Next chapter should be the discovery of what exactly is in the Third Floor Corridor. –grin-**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi again everyone! Winter discovers what's in the Corridor and gets curious. XP Plus the Mirror.**

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Winter managed to slip back into the School routine rather easily and even managed to get a pass into the Forbidden Section of the Library where she resumed her research on Nicholas Flamel.

She managed to find out he was involved in the making of something called "The Philosopher's Stone"- which had Winter intensely curious- and she was relatively sure that was the mysterious item in the third floor corridor. She wasn't positive, but was pretty sure. What else could be in the corridor that involved Nicolas Flamel and Dumbledore?

While Winter was rather relieved to find out what was-most likely- in the corridor it left her feeling a bit… off.

Something in her gut screamed something was wrong, and Winter had learned a long time ago to trust her instincts.

The 'wrong' feeling started when she received a cloak that allowed her to become invisible when she put it on. She had wiped it of enchantments when she got it since she could sense Dumbledore's Magic on the item, but it left her thrilled with all its possibilities.

Winter had put the cloak into her pouch and decided to check out that third floor corridor. She might as well put the cloak to use.

It had been bugging Winter ever since she had read about Flamel, trying to imagine what would be placed between a school and the Philosopher's Stone.

She imagined all kinds of things.

When she actually slipped into the corridor and checked- after slipping away from her friends- she realized she hadn't imagined _everything_.

There was a _huge_ Cerberus inside the first room guarding a trap door.

The dog said to guard the gates of the Underworld was the first obstacle.

Winter had stared into three pairs of eyes and three sets of large teeth before slowly backing out the door she had just entered and shutting and locking it back.

She managed to stumble out into the second floor before leaning on the wall and sliding down it.

She had sat there in numb disbelief staring at the wall across from her before it actually sank in twenty minutes later _"Oh by the Moon's Grace. I just escaped from a _Cerberus_ without dying."_ The terror followed by disbelief and pure relief had hit her then, one right after the other.

It had left her light headed and weak.

_~Winter are you ok?!~_

Winter about jumped out of her skin when Jack's voice rushed over their link sounding worried before she replied _~I…I'm ok. I just…I ran into something unexpected. Where are you?~_

_~I'm on my way back to Hogwarts. I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way.~_

_~Ok. I'll see you then.~_

Winter had some research to do.

Again.

At least this one would be simpler.

She didn't even have to search the Library. She only had to reference her personal Greek Mythology books and ask Hagrid if any of the information she found was true. She could even use the books as an excuse and Hagrid would probably be interested in them anyway.

So she pulled the books out and she searched through them carefully reading any information she found on Cerberus and the Underworld. After reading a few of the stories she had discovered that anyone that got passed the Cerberus used music. There was a myth inside the book that stated a living man had gotten into the Underworld using a Magical harp-like instrument that put the three headed dog to sleep before attempting to lead his dead wife out of the Fields and back to the living world against her will. He hadn't succeeded but the myth left Winter wondering if music may be the key.

She went to the only person she could ask. Hagrid had been thrilled to see a 'Muggle take on a Cerberus.' He had excitedly informed her "I have one you know. Named 'im Fluffy I did. This Muggle Book here is right. Music puts 'em right to sleep!" then he had frozen and whispered "I shouldn't 'ave tol' you tha'."

Winter had flipped through the book with him and talked a little more- she really did enjoy the kind half-giant's company- before slipping outside.

She was nearly bowled over by a worried Jack. She could hear him shooting question after question all asking if she was ok and what happened in different ways. She tried answering him a few times but he didn't really listen and she resorted to smacking him in the head with his own Shepard's Staff.

She finally managed to answer his questions as he went silent. "Yes I'm really fine Jack. No I'm not injured. I was researching. Remember how I told you what I thought was in the corridor? Well I was curious about what was guarding it…"

"Winter…Tell me you didn't go in by yourself." Jack stared at Winter's sheepish smile and sighed. "I'm not telling you not to go find out what was guarding it- I've been curious since you told me yourself- but next time…could you maybe…wait for back up or something?"

"Sorry Jack. Anyway I went in and I found a Cerberus!"

Jack's eyes widened. He was torn between curious awe- because _come on_ that was _awesome_- and dulled horror- because Winter had walked into a situation with a Cerberus by herself.

"As in giant three-headed dog that guards the Underworld. Did you know there really _is_ one that guards the gates of Hell? Hagrid told me. He said the Cerberuses here in the Wizarding World originally came from the one that guards the gates. Anyway I found out that Cerberuses are put to sleep very easily with the use of music!"

Jack grinned. "You planning on _using_ that information?"

Winter grinned back and didn't say a word.

"I'll be going with you of course."

"Of course."

O~O~O~

Jack stayed close to the castle waiting for Winter to make her move. She had been carefully learning to use a wooden flute Hagrid had given her for Christmas and was getting pretty good at improving a decent sounding melody.

Jack knew she wasn't ready yet though and was confused when he felt something over his mental link with her. It was a subtle thing, but he'd had the link long enough to know when something changed and he immediately focused on the link. Something was wrong. Winter felt…foggy, like she really wasn't there.

Jack immediately started heading her way, worried when he realized she wasn't even in the Ravenclaw Common Room. He sped up flying over anyone that happened to be in his way leaving cold breezes in his wake.

When he managed to find Winter she was standing in front of a mirror with a completely flabbergasted look on her face. He could see her take a shaky step closer and reach for the mirror's surface like she wanted to touch whatever was there.

Jack was almost brought to his knees by the wave of pure unrestrained _longing_ that came over the link.

"Winter?" She didn't even so much as flinch at his voice. Jack stepped closer calling "Winter?" louder than before. She finally snapped out of it when Jack sent frost over the surface of the mirror blocking her view.

She turned to face him with dazed eyes and asked "Jack?" like she couldn't understand what she was seeing.

Jack felt his stomach turn worriedly "Winter? Hey are you okay?"

"Jack did you see them?" her eyes were still slightly dazed but they were focused on him which was good.

"See who Winter?"

"Them! There in the mirror!" she pointed sharply and Jack turned to the mirror and them back to her. Winter gave him a look and he slowly pulled the frost away leaving the mirror bare.

Winter was watching him as his eyes widened and Jack stepped forward. He didn't know who Winter had wanted him to see but Jack could see all the guardians standing slightly in the background but smiling at him as he and Winter danced across his lake smiling surrounded by hundreds of children all scrambling to be taught their dance and get him to pay attention to them pulling on his hoodie and poking his sides and calling out what he assumed was his name since he couldn't hear them.

Winter's eyes went wide at the sharp feeling of longing coming from the immortal she was staring at, her best friend, and now that she wasn't actually looking at the mirror she noticed the subtle probing Magic that swirled around the mirror and attached itself to Jack the feeling of _stay_ and _desire_ and _longing_ and _trapped_ coming off the Magic. She gasped sharply and gripped Jack's arm pulling him sharply.

The two of them stumbled away and Jack turned to face her, the sharp feelings of _anger_ followed quickly by _confusion _and _sadness_ and _lonelylonelylonely_ flowed not only over their link but through his Magic. "Winter what was…?"

Winter shook her head ignoring the frost that had spread over the floor and slightly over the bottom of the mirror with the freezing winds that swirled with Jack's emotions. " I don't know what that was exactly…" she glanced quickly at the mirror only noticing the carving over the mirror then since she refused to look into the glass and be pulled into the illusion of herself happily laughing as she introduced Jack and her friends to her parents and the rest of her dead family. The carving was the reverse of "I show not your face but your heart's desire"

"Jack I think this is a trap mirror. The Magic it's using isn't right. It tried to keep you there. The carving up on top says 'I show not your face but your heart's desire' and I don't think you're supposed to escape it once it has you. If you hadn't covered it with ice…I wouldn't have moved. I would have stayed there as long as I could. I only noticed it when you were affected."

As she spoke Jack's mind cleared and he was able to focus past what he had seen. Winter was right. If she hadn't pulled him away he would have stood there staring at the image he had been shown. He shook his head sharply shaking away the last of the effects "Your right, but Winter…how did you end up here?"

Winter looked confused " I was heading to bed and I remember sensing faint traces of Dumbledore's Magic and then _something_ made it hard to think anything except 'I have to go look in the room' and I was out of the Common Room and down the stairs before I knew what was happening. Then I was here and the mirror…" she trailed off but Jack knew what she meant and he nodded.

"Come on we got to get out of here."

The two of them left looking back at the mirror only once.

Jack escorted Winter back to her Common Room before he decided to claim one of the seldom used couches to sleep on. Most Ravenclaws seemed to prefer the Library or the chairs and couches closest to the fires or the entrance so Jack settled into a couch that was pressed against the back wall away from the fireplace and the entrance as well as away from most of the windows leaving very little light to get in from either the sun or the moon.

Winter went up to her dorm and her bed.

It took the two of them a while to manage to sleep.

Dumbledore had sensed Winter enter the room with the mirror just as the compulsion spell was supposed to make her, but by the time he had entered the room Winter had been gone and he was left wondering how she managed to resist the Mirror of Erised enough to walk away. Even he had issues with it once he was pulled into its Magic.

He left feeling frustrated and confused.

Meanwhile Winter lay in her bed unaware that she had escaped a late night run-in with the Headmaster.


End file.
